The Avengers and Me
by Patrick Macnee

Our Price: $53.89
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.92 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of The Avengers and Me

Book Review: A delight for fans of the series
Summary: 5 Stars

What this book also tells us is how the participants did not particularly have as much fun making the series as we did watching them. When Diana Rigg announced that coal miners were making more than they were--a remark that did not endear her to coal miners--or when the cast of "The New Avengers" found they were not going to be paid--or when Joanna Lumley stood up at a gathering and let the others know how hard the cast worked while everyone else partied, we begin to reconsider what came over the tube in a new light and admire the actors even more for not showing their displeasure before the cameras.

As is common today in "confess all" autobiographies, Macnee is quite honest about his weight and drinking problems; and more interestingly, about his feelings of inferiority before such "real" actors (as he puts it late in the book) as Diana Rigg and Ian McKellen (but not Orson Welles, for reasons that you will find in the last chapter).

This edition boasts lots of good stills, especially the color shots of Honor Blackman episodes which we know only in black and white. I feel it could have used more behind-the-camera anecdotes and I certainly miss an index. But what there is is quite good and fans will certainly love it all.

Summary of The Avengers and Me

The Avengers and Me is Macnee's memoir of his time on the cult TV show. Reading the book is like sitting down with the actor over a nice cup of tea as he reminisces about life behind and in front of the cameras. He is particularly gracious in his discussion of the women with whom he shared his adventures: Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, Linda Thorson, and Joanna Lumley are all lavished with Macnee's signature charm. He only becomes critical when writing about some of the production decisions that, he believes, compromised the original vision of the show, and he seems to think that The New Avengers was not a terribly good idea. Overall, however, The Avengers and Me is as warm and as witty as the man himself. --Simon Leake

Biographies & Memoirs Books

• Books > Subjects
• Humor & Entertainment > Television