The Avengers Dossier, Page Twelve

With the Year of the Avengers at the halfway point, we present another look at a supporting cast member from the fourth season.

ATHENE SEYLER
In "Man-Eater of Surrey Green", Athene Seyler plays a botanist who joins Steed and Peel in a battle to save Earth.

Born 1889, Athene Seyler dreamed of being an actress from a young age, and by 1909, she had already made a name for herself in British theatre. With the coming of film, she pursued the new horizons and once again found success--first in early movies and then in early television as a character actress who could be relied upon to deliver quirky performances that were always as British as British could be. 

Seyler was at her busiest during the mid-1930s, but her less-frequent screen appearances as the years wore on were not because she wanted for work, but because she was very picky about the roles she accepted and also because she turned her attention back toward theatre work.

Throughout her eight decades as a working actress, Seyler appeared in every mainstream genre of film and television show, from screwball comedies to dark horror films. She is perhaps best remembered for her roles in "Night of the Demon" (1957) and "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" (1958), as well as her numerous turns as matronly characters in screen adaptations of Charles Dickens stories. 

Seyler literally worked as an actress her entire adult life. She make her final stage appearance in 1990, at the age of 101, mere weeks before she passed away.

Aside from her role in "Man-Eater of Surrey Green", she played a different character in an episode that aired in 1964, "Build a Better Mouse Trap".