The Avengers Dossier, Page Thirteen

Many actors familiar to fans of action films or spy dramas of the 1960 and 1970s could be found as guest-stars on "The Avengers". Here's another look at one of those.

JULIAN GLOVER

In "Two's a Crowd", Julian Glover is one of several handlers for a Soviet assassin so elusive it's as if he's made of smoke.

Born in 1935, and trained as a classical actress, Julian Glover made his professional debut in 1953. He has spent the past seven decades dividing his work between the stage, film, and television work. His sharp facial features, talent for doing voices and accents, and an ability to project an icy coldness made him ideal to play refined villains, haughty academics, and aristocratic military men and police officers.

Beginning in the early 1960s and continuing on into the 1980s, Glover was a familiar face to British television viewers, making frequent guest appearances and playing recurring or starring roles on a range of television series, such as "Doctor Who" (on which he played three different characters over the years), "Spy Trap" (in which he co-starred during the 1972 season), and "The Avengers" (where he played four different characters, in 1965, 1967, 1968, and 1969 respectively. During the 1980s and 1990s, he became known to American television viewers with appearances on shows like "Remington Steele". During the 2000s, he had a recurring role on the HBO fantasy series "Game of Thrones".

 

Glover has the distinction of being the only actor who's appeared as a villain in a "Star Wars" movie ("The Empire Strikes Back"), a James Bond movie ("For Your Eyes Only") and an Indiana Jones movie ("Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"). He's stated that a great unfulfilled ambition of his career was to play the time time-traveling alien Doctor Who, but there may be time for that yet: Glover is still a working actor who maintains a busy stage and film schedule.

The Avengers: Two's a Crowd

Two's a Crowd (1965)
Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Warren Mitchell, Julian Glover, Wolf Morris, Maria Machado, and Alec Mango
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Super-spies John Steed (Macnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg) are on the verge of unmasking a mysterious Russian agent, but his crafty assistants (Glover, Mango, Machado, and Morris) stymie their efforts by replacing Steed with a lookalike (Macnee) in their employ.

"Two's a Crowd" got off to a really fun start for me. I watch so many old films with cheap and pathetic effects that I thought I was in for another "treat" in that department--but then the model turned out to be a model. (The foe of the Avengers loves model airplanes and he uses remote controlled model planes to committ assassinations.)

This bit of trickery/playing on perception sets the theme for the entire episode where many things aren't what they seem and models take the place of the real thing... but can be just as lethal. John Steed's double is literally a model: The man is a male fashion model, and while he may not be a trained combatant, like Steed, his completely lack of morals and regard for other human beings makes him every deadly to those who think he's Steed.

Storywise, this is a fast-paced episode that's as full of twists and turns as one would expect a tale involving a "faceless" assassin whose identity is kept secret by a cadre of ruthless assistants, traitorous dopplegangers, and elaborate assassination schemes. The balance between humor and suspense is expertly maintained throughout, with lots of witty banter, quirky characters, and lots of fun situations. The best scenes involved Steed's evil double--with the fashion show where he is first introduced being absolutely hilarious, and the scene where Emma Peel has to decide if Steed is himself or the double and whether she should kill or not is quite suspenseful.

The best thing about the episode is the performances by Patrick Macnee--and yes, I did say "performances". Not only does he play two characters in the episode, but the fake Steed goes in and out of the character of Steed... so Macnee is playing a character who is playing John Steed. It's lots of fun to watch a talented actor getting show off!