Well we just lost one of the all time greats:( I don't think any other single actor had a greater influence on me as a kid then he did. He took what was written at first a typical thug spy character and turned it into an icon with a mix of style, humor, and good manors. Steed was the perfect example of what a modern gentleman was supposed to be and that all came from Macnee's input into the early second season scripts. What is more he always managed to have great chemistry with whoever his costars were, and that is not easy to do when you have as many as he did. If I had to rate some of the Avengers episodes purely on their writing the show jumped the shark many times but he and his costars made them so much fun to watch and drew me in and had me believing even the most over the top ideas, that I own them all on DvD.
If you have never seen the Avengers correct that now, the discs are cheap on Amazon and thanks to Macnee it is a classic series that still holds up today because there is nothing else like it.
He managed to bring a sense of class to everything he did, be it a quick role in Scrooge, the original Battlestar Galactica, or This is Spinal Tap. He even managed to bring a sense of class to one of the worst Bond movies ever made.
If you want to see something more recent he did, he was in my favorite episode of Frasier along with Sir Derick Jacobi, and he was great in it.
Personally his death makes me even more sad then that of Nimoy. I loved Spock as a kid, but I always wanted to be John Steed and that completely came down to the changes Macnee made to the character when he wasn't happy with it.
Not many actors can claim to have not only played, but helped create a classic character that is still loved more then fifty years on.
I don't know about anyone else but this death brings a tear to my eye and He will be missed.