Only time could get the better of John Steed.
Patrick Macnee, the prominent British actor best known for his evil-scheme-fighting role on The Avengers, died Thursday of natural causes at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., according to a statement posted on his website.
He was 93.
Macnee played the bowler-wearing and umbrella-toting Steed most famously opposite Diana Riggs' Emma Peel and Honor Blackman's Cathy Gale on the 1960s TV series. The Avengers, which originated on Britain's ITV, ran from 1961 until 1969.
Raised in Lambourn, Berkshire, England, the classically trained thesp was largely a stage actor and had some small film roles (he was young Marley in the Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol) before landing the role of Steed. He was briefly second banana to Ian Hendry's Dr. David Keel before Macnee assumed the role of leading man in the The Avengers' second season.
He spent the last 40 years of his life in California, showing up regularly on TV throughout the 1970s, '80s and '90s, and it was his voice that narrated the opening credits of the original Battlestar Galactica in 1978. Guest appearances included roles on Diagnosis Murder, The Love Boat, Magnum P.I. and Frasier.
Macnee also starred in the short-lived series The New Avengers in 1976 and lent his voice to The Avengers film, co-starring Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman as John Steed and Emma Peel. The 1998 film was raked over the coals critically—pretty much because the original was all the classy avenging that fans needed.
"RIP The Awesome Patrick Macnee," wrote Michael McKean as the tributes started pouring in on Twitter.
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