Showing posts with label Peter Wyngarde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Wyngarde. Show all posts

Friday, October 22, 2021

The Avengers Dossier, Page Twenty-One

Here's another brief look at one of the great guest-stars who appeared in an episode of the classic television series "The Avengers".

PETER WYNGARDE
In "A Touch of Brimstone", Peter Wyngarde is the leader of a revived Hellfire Club that Steed and Mrs. Peel must infiltrate.

Peter Wyngarde

Peter Wyngarde was born in 1927, in France, to a French mother, and a father who was a career diplomat for Great Britain. His childhood was a nomadic one, moving from country to country, until in 1941 when he was swept up in the Japanese invasion and capture of Shanghai and put into a prison camp while his parents were away in India on business. It was in these harsh circumstances, under the constant threat of brutal death at the hands of Japanese soldiers that young Wyngarde first developed an interesting in acting, as he performed in plays put on by the prisoners to keep each others' spirits up. He even created a few plays himself.

After the camp was liberated in 1945, Wyngarde spent two years in Switzerland recovering from malnutrition and illnesses developed during his imprisonment. By the time he was in his early 20s, Wyngarde was back in England and studying law at university, according to his parents' wishes. He soon dropped out, however, and instead pursued a career in acting.

Wyngarde spent the late 1940s and early 1950s performing on stage with various Shakespearean repertory companies throughout England, including the famous Old Vic Theatre in Bristol where he also directed. In 1956, he had his first encounter with the filmmaking world when he was cast in the big-budget epic "Alexander the Great", but he was soured on the industry when a year's worth of work on his part ended up mostly on the cutting-room floor.

Peter Wyngarde
For the rest of the 1950s, Wyngarde returned to the stage, where he received much praise from critics and theatre-goers alike in both the United States and Britain. During this time, he was also honored with several several awards. 

In 1960, Wyngarde began starring in made-for-television plays for the popular ITV anthology series "Armchair Theatre" and "Play of the Week". Her starred in 30 such productions, and they led him to reconsider film work, and in 1962 he starred in the criminally under-appreciated horror film "Burn, Witch, Burn" (aka "Night of the Eagle).

During the 1960s, Wyngarde starred in 30 televised plays. In between those roles, he made guest-appearances on numerous top-rated television action series, such as "The Prisoner", "The Saint", "The Avengers", and "Department S". His character on the latter, author-turned-investigator Jason King, was such a hit with the public that he played the character in its own spin-off series for two seasons in 1971 and 1972.

Following the cancellation of "Jason King", Wyngarde's professional efforts became focused almost entirely on the stage and live theatre, both as an actor and a director. With the exception of  turns as villains in "Flash Gordon" (1980) and in the four-part storyline "Planet of Fire" (1984) for the "Doctor Who" series, and small roles in a handful of made-for-television movies and series, Wyngarde trod the boards for the rest of career.

Peter Wyngarde passed away in 2018 at the age of 90.

Thursday, September 30, 2021

The Avengers: A Touch of Brimstone

A Touch of Brimstone (1966)
Starring: Diana Rigg, Patrick Macnee, Peter Wyngarde, Carol Cleveland, Michael Latimer, and Colin Jeavons
Director: James Hill
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The charismatic leader of a modern-day Hellfire Club (Wyngarde) intends to topple the British government through a mass-assassination plot, and only secret agents John Steed (Macnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg) can infiltrate his group and stop them.

Diana Rigg and Carol Cleveland in a scene from "A Touch of Brimstone"


This is an episode of "The Avengers" that people who were reading "X-Men" comics in the early 1980s is familiar with in a round-about way, even if they didn't even know there was such a thing as a television series called "The Avengers. In the early 1980s, Writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne based the look and nature of a group of evil mutants on the Hellfire Club in this episode--in particular a the Black Queen. That character's look and outfit was inspired by one sported by Emma Peel in this episode... even if the Black Queen was even more skimpily clad than Peel was. 

Although Peel was only dressed in the costume for a few minutes--including the climactic battle where she fights for her life against the villainous leader of the Hellfire Club--it caused quite a stir back in 1965. The episode was edited by censors for its original broadcast in Great Britain, broadcasters in continental Europe and in Australia fielded complaints from viewers, and the whole thing was deemed to risque to even air in the United States. One interesting tidbit about the outfit is that actress Diana Rigg had issues with some of costumes she had to wear as Emma Peel, but this is one she designed herself.

As for the bulk of the episode, instead of just the costume that launched a thousand trips to the fainting couch and jump-started a thousand puberites via comics or the airwaves, it also ranks as one of the stronger in the series due to its very well-paced action, well-developed supporting characters (with the leader of group, John Cartney played by Peter Wynngarde, being one of the most palatably evil characters to even appear on the series), and great banter between John Steed, Emma Peel, and just about anyone they encounter during their investigation. This is also another episode where Diana Rigg gets to shine as an actress, due to the variety of situations that her character Emma Peel must navigate as the story unfolds. The final fight scenes between the bad guys and our heroes is also among the best of the series.

Whether you just want to see one of the better episodes in the series; whether you want to watch Diana Rigg parade around in not a lot of clothes (while carrying a snake); or whether you are the modern-day pearl-clutching type who wants to be outraged and feel like your spiritual ancestors in the 1960s felt, this is the episode to check out.





Here are a few more images and publicity stills from "A Touch of Brimstone", just because.

Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee in "A Touch of Brimstone"

Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee in "A Touch of Brimstone"

Diana Rigg as the Queen of Sin in "A Touch of Brimstone

Diana Rigg in "A Touch of Brimstone"