ICONIC, BOWLERD AND REMEMBERED : PATRICK MACNEE BORN TODAY

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY! I would guess maybe 98% of you here would be able to name the face under that all the make up, sitting in the make up chair. For those who can't there is one big give away, for all of us who have been been part of a running joke here for months...can you spot it??

TODAY WE REMEMBER the wonderful actor Patrick Macnee who was born on this day in 1922. He was best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the British television series The Avengers and The New Avengers.

PATRICK MACNEE and Peter Cushing had the opportunity to work together several times. In 1968 Patrick was very much established in a superb tv programme made in the UK called The Avengers...Peter worked with both Patrick and Diana Rigg on this programme. Later in 1970, they worked together again, Macnee and Cushing both 'landed' in a film called 'Incense For The Damned' aka 'Bloodsuckers'.

IT RECEIVED a limited release at the time, but seems to have found something of a 'cult-status' in the land of '100 Horror Poor and Weird Films' dvd compilations!! In 1978, the Avengers tv series was rebooted and relaunched and it's first episode, not only brought us Macnee and Cushing ....but also two new side -kicks for Macnee...Gareth Hunt as 'Tough man' Gambit and Joanna Lumley as Purdey.....who not only supplied buckets of sex appeal to the tea time Sunday evening program, but high kicks and a hair style that anyone who considered themselves a bit of a catch, were proudly modeling within days of the first program being broadcast! Lumley had played Cushing grand-daughter Jessica Van Helsing in Hammer films 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' (1973)

Our THROWBACK THURSDAY FEATURE HERE! 

MACNEE also shared a close friendship with Christopher Lee, since the pair attended school together (at Summerfields Preparatory School in Oxford) and also performed together several times, including playing Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in two TV movies in the early 1990s, Incident at Victoria Falls and Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady. Patrick Macnee died peacefully at his home, in Rancho Mirage, California on 25th June 2015. He was 93.

The NAME of the COMPANY. WHY was he asked to make it?  It was a MODEL of WHAT? ANSWER THURSDAY!

REMEMBER! IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA

SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA MOMENTS OF TERROR RARE BEHIND THE SCENES CONTACT SHEET PHOTOGRAPHS

#MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY! 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' The first of FOUR great fearsome clips for this week's themed post Little did we know when this scene played out on the big screen, that it would be the last time we would see Cushing's Van Helsing destroy Christopher Lee's Dracula for Hammer films . . . some felt a little cheated, by the method and staging of this symbolic scene. Dracula for them it seemed, has been thwarted by getting tangled in a bramble bush and poked by a piece of woodland fencing!!!!

I MAY BE in the minority . ..but I thought it was rather well done, and the pace of the scene, was a master stroke. It's almost graceful. Dracula is captured by his own thirst for revenge on the Van Helsing family. It is his anger and frustration that sees him trapped by the 'holy hawthorn' . ..the more he claws, the harder he pushes to reach Van Helsing, on the other side of the bush...the more the thorns hold him..until finally, he falls. Van Helsing doesn't even hurry to deliver that stake. 

AND THEN what appears to be a Crucifixion...and the pace changes again, what started as snarling and gnashing ...all slowly winds down. As time claws back the years, accompanied by the low musical score , flesh turns to bone, bone to ash...and finally dust. When compared to the blood and thunder action of all the other Hammer Dracula exits... this one is almost like a grotesque ballet. ....and the little nod to the final shot of the first Hammer Dracula in 1958, when only his signet ring remains . . . is a very good touch.

#MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY! VAN HELSING'S (Peter Cushing) granddaughter Jessica Van Helsing (Joanna Lumley) while investigating what appears to be a secret base for 'creepy goings-on' stumbles upon a cellar . ..with some unexpected creepies..and we don't mean spiders! Look out for actress Valerie Van Ost, who appeared with Peter Cushing in the pre slasher cult movie, 'Corruption' (1968) . .. Ost went on to leave the acting profession and become a theatrical agent!

#MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY!A bit of a shocking experience (sorry...) for one of Dracula's henchmen. In Hammer Dracula films of old school, he usually had one poor soul who did his bidding... one KLOVE played by Patrick Troughton in 'Scars of Dracula' (1970) and by Phillip Latham in the 1966, 'Dracula, Prince of Darkness' . .. now, there is an army of funky waitse-coated motor cycle ridding thugs, to protect him...complete with state of the art, CCTV! Michael Coles Inspector Murray, has a bit of a rough up with one, in this scene. Typical (see tv UK series 'The Sweeney') punch up, but with a very satisfying ending! Take that, villain!

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . .

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: REMEMBERING ACTOR PATRICK MACNEE : TODAY

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY!: The late Patrick Macnee on how he almost lost the role of John Steed in the iconic UK television series, 'The Avengers'.  

PATRICK MACNEE, Peter Cushing and Joanna Lumley in The New Avengers episode, 'The Eagles Nest' in 1976

REMEMBERING PATRICK MACNEE who passed today in 2015. Was there ever a cooler chap? Peter Cushing worked with Macnee in Return of the Cybernauts episode of The Avengers in 1967, in 'The New Avengers' episode, 'The Eagles Nest' in 76. Peter and Macnee also appeared in 'Incense for the Damned' in 1970. School fiend of Christopher Lee and all round gentleman! Patrick Macnee 1922- 2015. A favorite with you?

Patrick Macnee and Roger Moore during the making of 'A View To A Kill' (1985)

Macnee and Christopher Lee made a fine Holmes and Watson!

Old school friends, Chrsitopher Lee and Patrick Macnee, study a school photograph during the making of  'Never Never Say Die' episode of The Avengers in 1967.

If you LIKE what you find posted here . . Please visit us at our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE and help Keep The Memory Alive!

The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LOVELY LUMLEY!

TODAY MARKS THE BIRTHDAY of a very special B'day girl, Joanna Lumley! She appeared as Peter Cushing's granddaughter, in quick bit of recasting for Hammer in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and also appeared with Cushing in The Eagle's Nest the first of the new series 'The New Avengers in 1976. The first episode established the new team, Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit, Joanna Lumley as Purdey and Patrick Macnee as John Steed.

LUMLEY'S SECTION OF 'THE NEW AVENGERS' TITLE SEQUENCE!

Peter Cushing, Derek Farr, Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt in 'The Eagle's Nest' episode one of 'The New Avengers' 1976 

ABOVE: An interesting and rare peep at both Peter Cushing and Joanna Lumley on set, during the making of 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' !

 

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us reach our 30K following total for Peter Cushing BIRTHDAY on MAY 26th 2017 AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

#MONSTERMONDAY: FREDDIE JONES SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA AND MONTAGE CLIP

#MONSTERMONDAY: Not probably someone who instantly comes to mind, when you think of 'monsters'... but he deserves the title alright... SPOILERS: Meet the brilliant, yet quite batty and lethal, Professor Julian Keeley (a delightfully dotty Freddie Jones) who appears briefly, yet ever so effectively. in the Lee and Cushing last Hammer Dracula film, The Satanic Rites of Dracula' (1973)

Keeley, friend of Cushing's Van Helsing, has been commissioned by Lee's Dracula (Mr D.D. Denham anyone?) and his dastardly Satanic cult made up of wealthy businessmen and powerful politicians, to create a virulent new strain of bubonic plague which could wipe out all mankind....and the carrier chosen for the taks being, Van Helsing's very own Grandaughter, Jessica Van Helsing (Joanna Lumley). He's quite dedicated! Mad as a bucket of frogs. He does evoke some sympathy at first, until to realise, death, decay, disease and doom, are his idea of a very good night out! Evil to the core... corrupted and terrified, sure but still A Monster...and that's why we have chosen him as this Monday's Monster! How does the Plague Propagating Professor rate in your Monster stakes? A Nice Guy Just Wacko OR MONSTER?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNA LUMLEY TODAY

Today marks the birthday of a very special B'day girl, Joanna Lumley! She appeared as Peter Cushing's granddaughter, in quick bit of recasting for Hammer in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and also appeared in The Eagle's Nest episode of the New Avengers TV series.

The Eagles Nest,. the first of the new series and return of 'The New Avengers in 1976. The first episode established the new team, Gareth hunt as Mike Gambit, Joanna Lumley as Purdey and Patrick Macnee as John Steed and guest starred Peter Cushing.

Above, US publicity material: Joanna Lumley as Van Helsing's granddaughter, Jessica Van Helsing in Hammer Films 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' (1973 Alan Gibson)

Joanna also made one other appearance in a Peter Cushing film, but not with Peter. Can you name that film?? If you can’t, no matter, but do join us in wishing Joanna a very Happy Birthday today!

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