The Avengers International Fan Forum

Apologies, but I didn't know about this beforehand. I watched Return of the Saint today ('Yesteday's hero')on Alibi and Ian Hendry made a guest appearance. It was sad to watch in a way as a few years earlier he had been enjoying a fairly successful film career (Repulsion, Get Carter, Theatre of blood, etc), but was now getting by with guest appearances on tv shows. Sadder still was the obvious fact that he wasn't in good health. He did enjoy the odd drink and ciggie. What was impressive though was his acting ability. He all but acted Ian Ogilvy off the screen. A much underrated actor. Annette Andre was also in this one. For the insomniacs out there, they are repeating it at 1am. Rich.

I read somewhere that shorty after Ian appeared on This Is Your Life presented to Patrick Macnee, he passed away. He looked so worn then.

I know that "Return of the Saint" episode - it was the first one I watched when I bought the box set; Hendry's brilliant but it's very harrowing. Reminiscent of his New Avengers story in some ways.

cyberrich wrote:Apologies, but I didn't know about this beforehand. I watched Return of the Saint today ('Yesteday's hero')on Alibi and Ian Hendry made a guest appearance. It was sad to watch in a way as a few years earlier he had been enjoying a fairly successful film career (Repulsion, Get Carter, Theatre of blood, etc), but was now getting by with guest appearances on tv shows. Sadder still was the obvious fact that he wasn't in good health. He did enjoy the odd drink and ciggie. What was impressive though was his acting ability. He all but acted Ian Ogilvy off the screen. A much underrated actor. Annette Andre was also in this one. For the insomniacs out there, they are repeating it at 1am. Rich.

had a roller coaster type career...up/down/etc..

could certainly hold his own, with many others...

Lots of British actors were hard drinkers - Oliver Reed, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, Richard Burton, etc. Patrick was one of the few that sobered up in time. I think over-indulgance comes with the territory of theatre and film making. I imagine it can be a hedonistic lifestyle choice.

On the DVD commentry for "Get Carter" (1971) he is dismissed as a faded star. He was given a role in "Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter" (1974) by Clemens so long as he kept off the juice. But could not keep his word. The amazing thing is that he got through two seasons on the 'Lotus Eaters' (1972/73).

This is such a shame as we was being pushed forward as one of the bright young actors of the post-war generation.

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:Lots of British actors were hard drinkers - Oliver Reed, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, Richard Burton, etc. Patrick was one of the few that sobered up in time. I think over-indulgance comes with the territory of theatre and film making. I imagine it can be a hedonistic lifestyle choice.

how true...just look at the 'roster' of some of these drinkers.

it's a un real reality, or life style...

Ian never quite lived up to the critics expectations..perhaps this was one
of the reasons for the drink....

No, he was drinking on The Avengers too. He just liked drinking.

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:No, he was drinking on The Avengers too. He just liked drinking.

He and Patrick used to be drinking buddies. There's a very funny anecdote about the day Pat quit and switched to prune juice.

I said it in another thread but he had the best career an actor can hope for, he kept on working. He worked right up until his death in 1984. He was in quite a few well regarded or cult films.