RIP: Honor Blackman

[thewayne]

She was 94. Famous as the second of Steed's women in the original The Avengers, she preceded Mrs. Peel and left the series to be a Bond girl in Goldfinger. Her death was unrelated to COVID.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/honor-blackman-dead-goldfinger-avengers-actress-was-94-950932

Comments

[elayna]

It's sad news, though she had lived a good, long life.

[murakozi]

Well dang. I'v always rather liked her. I just re-watched Goldfinger for the umpteenth time over the weekend, too.

I do have to admit that I'm not super keen on the early Avengers episodes. However, I think that's more a matter of the recordings of them being not-great as well as them being made before the BBC discovered incidental music.

[thewayne]

I remember the Mrs. Peel eps most fondly from my youth and some of the Tara King, I don't remember much preceding Emma.  And so many of those early eps were taken from kinescopes since BBC didn't preserve anything from that era.

[murakozi]

The Mrs. Peel episodes were the first ones I saw on tv as a kid. I think the combination of Emma and the move to more spy-fi type stories is what makes me consider them the best seasons of the series.

I have to admit that I never really liked the seasons with Tara King all that much.

[thewayne]

Yeah, the Mrs. Peel did bring in a sci fi element, didn't it?  I rather liked that. One year ages ago I saw Patrick Macnee at San Diego ComicCon.  He decidedly did not look well, but lasted the better part of a decade after.  I definitely recommend his autobiography, Blind In One Ear.  His World War 2 service was quite... something, as was his childhood.

[murakozi]

I've read/heard some anecdotes about Macnee. I get the impression he was an okay guy. I seem to recall he was a nudist.

I really do like some of the 'spy' shows that came out in the mid/late 60s. Danger Man wasn't as spy-fi as The Avengers, but I find it to be pretty darned good. I also liked the fact that the 'good guys' didn't always win. I recently rewatched that series.

I also enjoy Mission: Impossible!, especially starting with the second season when Peter Graves joined the cast. I've been slowly going through that series on DVD.

And in the realm of 'real' scifi, I'll probably dig out the UFO DVDs in the near future.

[thewayne]

I've been wanting to rewatch Space: 1999.  I know it's pretty horrible, but I wanna!   Time Tunnel and The Invaders are another pair I wouldn't mind seeing again.

[murakozi]

The first season of Space: 1999 isn't too bad. I can't really say that about the second season.

A Correction or Two

[dewline]

BBC had nothing to do with the UKTV Avengers. ABC Television made the original series for ITV.

And to our host: Blackman was the first of the British Avengers' starring women.

Whose episodes I have yet to see with my own eyes. Peel and King eras, yes. Not Gale.