The Avengers Dossier, Page Twenty

Some of the greatest British dramatic and comedic actors of the 1960s showed up on "The Avengers" television series. Here's a brief look at one of them.

DOUGLAS WILMER
In "The Danger Makers", Douglas Wilmer is Dr. Long, a government psychiatrist that joins the Avengers in their investigation of the mysterious and reckless behaviors that are claiming the lives of decorated British military officers.

Born in 1920 in London, Douglas Wilmer was a classically trained actor who spent his early career in the theatre and Shakespearean roles, with his appearances in "MacBeth", "Romeo and Juliet" and "Merry Wives of Windsor" being reportedly among the most noteworthy. During the early 1950s, he transitioned to television where, over the next 30 years, he made his mark with portrayals of numerous historical figures and famous literary characters, with reprisals of his portrayal of MacBeth and, one of his favorite rules of his career, Sherlock Holmes. In fact, throughout his career, Wilmer returned to roles relating to Conan Doyle's famous detective, sometimes playing Holmes himself, sometimes playing villains. His final role before he passed away was a small part in an episode of "Sherlock", a series that transposed Holmes into the modern day.

Beginning in the early 1960s and continuing into the 1980s, Wilmer balanced his television work with roles in celebrated big screen genre pictures such as "El Cid" (1961), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), "Fearless Vampire Killers" (1971), "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" (1975... which SHOULD be a celebrated picture in my opinion), and the James Bond film "Octopussy" (1983). He also played Sir Nayland Smith in the Christopher Lee-starring "Fu Manchu" movies during the 1960s--although those are not necessarily anything one would want to celebrate.

As the 1980s drew to a close, Wilmer retired from acting. Within short order, however, he turned what had been a hobby into a late-life second career and found great success creating and selling paintings.

Douglas Wilmer passed away in 2016 at the age of 96. 

The Avengers: The Danger Makers

The Danger Makers (1966)
Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Nigel Davenport, Douglas Wilmer, Adrian Ropes, Moray Watson, Fabia Drake, and John Gatrell
Director: Charles Crichton
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

A retired highly respected general is killed while apparently recklessly joyriding on a motorcycle. Two of the British government's top investigators, John Steed and Emma Peel (Macnee and Rigg) are charged with determining if its connected to other strange accidental deaths and mishaps that have been befalling retired British army officers and soldiers.

This is one of the more serious-minded episodes, from the subject matter, how it's treated, and how the story involving it and surrounding it unfolds. What comedy we find here is generated by interactions between John Steed and John Steed involving friendly ribbing or assumptions of danger where there isn't any.

One of the most interesting aspects of the episode is that most of its villains are also victims. I don't want to give away some of the key plot-twists, but this episode and the threats that Steed and Peel face are ultimately borne from a group of soldiers that are unable to adjust to life off the battlefield, because they are suffering from various degrees of PTSD. In this way, society, with its expectations of what a soldier and a warrior is and must be, has failed them, but they are also subject to nefarious manipulation the the story's worst villain. It's something that's treated with a level of somberness and seriousness that's rarely seen in this series, and the final minutes of this episode feel weighty and intense as a result.

Although Patrick Macnee gets more screen-time, this is Diana Rigg's episode in many ways. Steed and Peel conduct parallel investigations, each with their own cover story and each of them uncovering important parts of the mystery as the trails they are following converge, but almost every scene that Rigg appears in during this show is full of great writing and acting, weighty symbolism, and thrilling action. (Although you know as a viewer that there's no way a main character is going to die during just another episode of a series like "The Avengers", I am certain that you will find yourself on the edge of seat as Emma Peel undertakes the potentially lethal initiation to join the ranks of the Danger Makers.

And speaking of Emma Peel... she's once again wearing some of the character's signature outfits that make her seem more real than many television females: That leather catsuit and those weird white boots with the stripe on the middle. You can see her wearing them in the picture used to illustrate this post. (I don't know if these recurring wardrobe items were a sign of budget limitations, intentional on part of the costumers, or because Diana Rigg liked wearing them, but I appreciate the repetition. Of course... it could be that this goes on in many shows and I just noticed it here.. because those boots are just so dumb-looking and yet she keeps wearing them!)

"The Danger Makers" is one of the great episodes in a great series. It is definitely worth your time to check out.