Patrick Macnee

Actor -- via the BBC. Macnee played John Steed, the perfect gentleman and secret agent in the British TV series "The Avengers." This show was my absolute favorite as a child, and Steed was pleasant, well-spoken, intelligent, witty, and tough -- and Macnee was a great foil for the succession of great female partners he would play against in the original series and its remake. For better or worse, he was typed as such for the rest of his career. He had some fun with his image in films such as "Spinal Tap" and "The Howling," and he is one of the few actors to have played both Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. A lot of fun as a performer, his bonhomie always cheered me up. We still have to fact-check the assertion that he was tossed from Eton for selling porn and running a bookie joint.