The actor Patrick Macnee, best known as Steed in the Avengers, had a confusing childhood after his socialite mother in an open marriage with his father had a younger illegitimate half-sibling and then contracted a lesbian relationship. He stayed with his mother and ‘Uncle Evelyn’, as his mother’s partner was, known in a house where no men were allowed with his mother insisting he wore women’s clothes. He refused but did wear a kilt. Evelyn paid his way to Eton, where he developed his acting skills before being expelled for running a gambling operation and selling erotic pictures to his schoolmates. He later said “that he had been socially and sexually confused by his upbringing and schooling” and moved to the USA which he found a less repressed environment. He was married three times.
While serving in the Navy in WW11 a bout of bronchitis saved his life as his boat was sunk with him in hospital. He started his acting career in Canada in small roles. By his late 30s he had not had a break and was smoking 80 cigarettes and drinking a bottle of whisky a day at which point the Avenger role came along.
He was born 6 February 1922 1am London and had a quick witted and charming 3rd house Sun Venus in Aquarius opposition a creative, escapist Neptune in the 9th square Mars in Scorpio in his 1st house which in turn was opposition a 7th house Taurus Moon. His Moon aspects are confused with Mars and Neptune as well as the Sun Venus all tangled up. Moon Mars would certainly spark off his anger and make alcohol an escape route away from troublesome feelings.
His mother Dorothea, 30 October 1896, was a Sun Scorpio trine Mars in late Gemini with an obsessive and high-handed Saturn Uranus in Scorpio which opposed Patrick’s Moon and was conjunct his Mars – an aggravated chemistry. Her Neptune Pluto in Gemini also fell in his 8th house of sexuality so no wonder he was muddled.
Their relationship chart had a controlling, possessive composite Sun opposition Pluto which was in a power-struggling square to Jupiter and a steady sextile/trine Saturn; with a needs-space Venus Uranus in a highly strung opposition to Neptune. Poor kid, he wouldn’t know whether he was coming or going. But at least he escaped after the war. She died in 1984.
His Chiron in his 5th would damage his spontaneity as he learned early on not to express who he really was. Though oddly it may have contributed to his later success as the cool, dapper Steed.
He had a noteworthy combination of Saturn conjunct North Node in Libra opposition Chiron which suggests that his wounded self-image, generating guilt and shame impacted greatly on his Libran North Node, which urged him to form healthy relationships.
I had never realised all this. The damage some parents do is horrific. Still he made it to 93.
As his alter-ego John Steed, Patrick radiated charm, elegance, and style. He remains the best-dressed man to
grace television on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the very first of the “Gentleman Adventurers”. They were
courteous to women, impeccably dressed, and never carried a gun. Jon Pertwee, Patrick McGoohan, Peter Wyngarde,
and Roger Moore as “The Saint” were in this long-vanished category of males.
Since his private struggles were so ruinous, he hid it very well. For me, Patrick will always remain a class act.
Patrick used to commute between LA and New York. His way of doing that was to buy a wreck of a car, not bother with insurance and when it broke down would hitchhike the rest of the way. And while he appreciated the scenery and meeting the people, he was more focused on LA and New York, which have always been more Liberal in their outlook in most everything.
This sometimes happens when people don’t feel comfortable expressing their sexuality fearing that they will be discriminated against and end up having children to fit in and the children end up suffering the consequences.
If he thought that America was less repressed than England he died a few years too soon because the crazy Christian Nationalists have exposed themselves since the advent of Trump.
Thank you Marjorie, I was a great fan of Patrick Macnee and have always felt he was capable of so much more. He also managed to escape The Avengers connection by playing bad guys like in the original Battlestar Galactica.