The Avengers: The Winged Avenger
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Tuesday, February 17 on Great! Action (42)
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About this Broadcast
The Winged Avenger
Season 5, Episode 6
Steed and Ms Peel investigate the case of several businessmen who have been killed by birds of prey - and discover a connection to a comic-book character
Detective/Thriller
Movie/Drama
Cast & Crew
Patrick Macnee
(Actor)
.. John Steed
Diana Rigg
(Actor)
.. Emma Peel
Nigel Green
(Actor)
.. Sir Lexius Cray
Jack MacGowran
(Actor)
.. Prof Poole
Neil Hallett
(Actor)
.. Arnie Packer
Colin Jeavons
(Actor)
.. Stanton
Gordon Flemyng
(Director)
Peter Duffell
(Director)
Richard Harris
(Writer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Patrick Macnee
(Actor)
.. John Steed
Born:
February 06, 1922
in
London
Best Known For:
Playing John Steed in The Avengers.
Early-life:
Born Daniel Patrick Macnee on February 6, 1922, in London. His father was a successful racehorse trainer who gambled away his fortune and emigrated to India. His mother then divorced her husband and moved in with her lesbian lover in Wiltshire. Macnee attended Summer Fields prep school before enrolling at Eton. He made his film debut in 1938's Pygmalion, but his acting career was curtailed by a spell in the Navy during the Second World War.
Career:
On his return from service, Macnee studied at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art. Small roles in several films followed but, frustrated at the lack of opportunity in Britain, he emigrated to Canada, then moved to the US. He appeared in numerous TV plays and films before returning to the UK in 1959. Producing Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years brought him to the attention of TV bosses who, to his surprise, offered him the role of John Steed in The Avengers in 1961. He stayed with the popular series until it ended in 1969, but returned to the role in The New Avengers in 1976. Macnee also appeared in such movies as A View to a Kill, This Is Spinal Tap and The Sea Wolves. He died on June 25, 2015.
Quote:
"I haven't really accomplished anything. The most accomplished thing I've done is to have lived this long."
Trivia:
Macnee became a US citizen in 1959.
Diana Rigg
(Actor)
.. Emma Peel
Born:
July 20, 1938
in
Doncaster
Best Known For:
Being a 1960s icon.
Early-life:
Born Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg on July 20, 1938, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, but spent her early years in India. At the age of eight she was sent back to England to attend boarding school in Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire. She later transferred to Fulneck School in West Yorkshire where she developed her love of acting, inspiring her to audition for a place at RADA in 1955; she made her professional stage debut the same year.
Career:
In 1959, Rigg signed a five-year contract with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her move to TV came in 1965 when she was offered the role of Emma Peel in The Avengers, but the demand for interviews and photographs proved too much, forcing her to quit in 1967. She went on to star in various movies, including On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Julius Caesar and The Great Muppet Caper, but by the 1980s her screen success was fading. However, she returned to form in 1989 in the award-winning miniseries Mother Love, and has appeared continually on stage, film and TV ever since. In 2013, she made a memorable Doctor Who villain alongside Matt Smith and her real-life daughter Rachael Stirling, and has a regular role in the acclaimed Game of Thrones.
Quote:
"You go your own way - you think, ‘That's what I want to do, it gives me pleasure' - the rest of the world can swing on by."
Trivia:
She was made a Dame in 1994.
Nigel Green
(Actor)
.. Sir Lexius Cray
Jack MacGowran
(Actor)
.. Prof Poole
Neil Hallett
(Actor)
.. Arnie Packer
Colin Jeavons
(Actor)
.. Stanton
Gordon Flemyng
(Director)
Peter Duffell
(Director)
Richard Harris
(Writer)
Born:
October 01, 1930
in
Limerick City
Best Known For:
A distinguished film and stage career.
Early-life:
Richard St John Harris was born in Limerick City on October 1, 1930, the youngest of nine children from a middle-class, Roman Catholic family. He was a talented sportsman, representing Munster on several occasions until contracting TB ended his career. Richard went on to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He went on to join Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and soon began getting roles in various West End stage productions.
Career:
Harris made his film debut in the 1958 British comedy Alive and Kicking. Other roles followed in The Guns of Navarone and Mutiny on the Bounty before his first lead role came in 1963's This Sporting Life. Other movies followed, including The Heroes of Telemark, Major Dundee, Camelot, A Man Called Horse, The Cassandra Crossing and The Wild Geese. He appeared in a number of forgettable productions during the 1980s but returned to form in the 1990s with The Field, Patriot Games and Unforgiven. His later films included Gladiator and two Harry Potter films. He died in London on October 25, 2002, at the age of 72, following a battle with Hodgkin's disease.
Quote:
"I was a sinner. I slugged some people. I hurt many people. And it's true, I never looked back to see the casualties."
Trivia:
Had three children with first wife Elizabeth Rees. A life-size sculpture of him as an 18-year-old squash player was unveiled by Russell Crowe in Kilkee, Co Clare, where Harris won a local cup four times in a row between 1948 and 1951.
