Patrick Macnee dies at age of 93

Patrick Macnee as John Steed and Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in the 1960s hit TV show The Avengers.

ACTOR PATRICK Macnee, who was best known for playing agent John Steed in the 1960s TV series The Avengers, has died at the age of 93.

He died of natural causes at his home in California with his family at his bedside, according to his son, Rupert.

Macnee, who starred in the classic spy programme alongside Ian Hendry, Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and Joanna Lumley, had lived in the US for the last 40 years.

A statement paying tribute to him on his website said: “Patrick Macnee was a popular figure in the television industry. He was at home wherever in the world he found himself.

“He had a knack for making friends, and keeping them. Wherever he went, he left behind a trove of memories and good wishes.”

He spent his early life in Lambourn, Berkshire, England, where his father, Daniel Macnee, was a racehorse trainer, and his mother. Macnee was pre-deceased by three wives: Barbara Helen Douglas Foulds, actor and mother of his two children, a son, Rupert, and a daughter; Kate Woodville; and Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye. He had a grandson.