I think Patrick is superb and I think this is a role he was perfect for. If he had never been cast though, are there any other actors who you think would have been great in the role?
I think Nigel Patrick would have been a good choice for Steed.
Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .
Possibly, but none spring to mind that would have been as good (or better) than Macnee. He was tailor made for the part and brought a lot of his own ideas to the role. He was responsible for creating at least half of Steed's onscreen persona.
I'm not sure how another actor would have handled the part though I would imagine the end result would have been noticably different. Macnee was generous enough both as an actor and as a man not to feel threaten by having an strong willed, intelligent, independent, attractive woman share the limelight equally with him. I don't think many other leading men of that era would not have been quite as obliging as him.
Honor Blackman spoke of her experiences working with Sean Connery who put on his "alpha male" attitude with her during the making of "Goldfinger" and said that he kept a tight lid on what he would permit her to do, unlike Macnee who was much more accomodating.
I'm not sure how another actor would have handled the part though I would imagine the end result would have been noticably different. Macnee was generous enough both as an actor and as a man not to feel threaten by having an strong willed, intelligent, independent, attractive woman share the limelight equally with him. I don't think many other leading men of that era would not have been quite as obliging as him.
I think you have a good point there. The Avengers isn't just about Steed it's about his leading ladies too, Patrick had such great chemistry with all of them. Like I said I think Patrick is perfect for the role, Steed was a character he was born to play.
I'm sure other actors would have been good but yes their performance would have been different to Patrick's. I still think Nigel Patrick would have been a good choice for the role though because he was so suave and charming.
Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .
Me too. Just one of those perfect iconic roles. But if you put a gun to my head and said pick someone else, my mind wanders to Roger Moore, who did first become famous in The Saint, or Keith Michell, Emmy award winning actor for The Six Wives of Henry VIII. His wife, btw, was the actress who played Janice in Too Many Christmas Trees. They've been married since 1957!
How sad, that you were not born in my time, nor I, in yours.
I recall when I read that, when they were originally casting the show, they put out the word that they were looking for "a GEORGE SANDERS type". That one line "explained" John Steed to me more than watching the series for decades!
Had the series been done 20 years earlier, Sanders would have made a terrific John Steed. He would have been a MUCH better fit than he was when he played Simon Templar!
Offhand I cannot think of anybody else who could have played John Steed like Patrick McNee did. Someone suggested Roger Moore and I think if he had played Steed the series would still have been a success but would also have been very different. As has been said Patrick McNee brought so much to the part himself as the series progressed (I think Steed's character was very different in the very first episode) and any other actor would not have done so in the same way.
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