Early Life
Macnee, the elder of two sons (he has a younger brother, James), was born Daniel Patrick Macnee in Paddington, London, to Dorothea Mary (née Henry) and Daniel "Shrimp" Macnee, a racehorse trainer. His maternal grandmother was Frances Alice Hastings, who descended from the Earls of Huntingdon – Macnee has long suggested that he may be a distant relation of Robin Hood, sometimes said to have been a black sheep of the Huntingdon family. Macnee's great-grandfather was Scottish portrait artist Sir Daniel Macnee.
His parents divorced after his mother declared her lesbianism and had a live-in partner (referred to in Macnee's memoirs, Blind in One Ear: The Avenger Returns, as "Uncle Evelyn") who helped pay for young Patrick's schooling. He was educated at Eton College, was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and was awarded the Atlantic Star for his service during World War II. After nurturing his acting career in Canada, Macnee appeared in supporting roles in a number of films, notably as an extra in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), in the Gene Kelly vehicle Les Girls (1957), as an Old Bailey barrister, and with Anthony Quayle in the war film The Battle of the River Plate (1956). He had a small role in Scrooge (US: A Christmas Carol 1951) as the young Jacob Marley.
Not long before his career-making role in The Avengers, Macnee took a break from acting and served as one of the London-based producers for the classic documentary series The Valiant Years, based on the WW II memoirs of Winston Churchill.
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