Like many, we were saddened to hear of the passing of Dame Diana Rigg. The multi-faceted actress died today (10th September) at the age of 82.
Born in Doncaster in 1938, Rigg lived in India from the age of two months old as her father- a railway engineer by trade- was employed as a railway executive in Bikaner. At the age of eight, she was sent back to England to attend boarding school (an experience she hated). After training as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 1955-57 (alongside Glenda Jackson and Siân Phillips), she made her professional stage debut in 1957, playing Natasha in RADA's production of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the York Festival. She was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959-1964.
One role, if not the role, that Rigg will always be remembered for is that of Mrs. Emma Peel in The Avengers. The second of John Steed's "talented amateur" partners (after Dr. Cathy Gale, played by Honor Blackman), Rigg auditioned for the role on a whim and wasn't initially cast, but- when original actress Elizabeth Shepherd was dismissed after one-and-a-half episodes- it was suggested she take the role instead. And the rest is history...
Rigg appeared in 51 episodes as the catsuit-wearing, wise-cracking Emma, becoming a fashion icon and an emblem of the Swinging Sixties, her character also giving rise to the catchphrase "Mrs. Peel, we're needed". However, behind the scenes, things weren't so rosy- when Rigg found out she was being paid less than the cameraman, she demanded a raise to be on par with co-star Patrick Macnee or she'd leave. The raise was given but Rigg was castigated as some kind of mercenary, despite the request being entirely reasonable. In October 1967, she opted to leave the show to pursue other projects. She remained close friends with Macnee until his death in 2015.
Rigg's first film role came in Peter Hall's 1968 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where she played Helena opposite David Warner, Michael Jayston, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, and Ian Holm. After appearing in The Assassination Bureau (1969), Rigg's next film role would forever cement her place in cinematic history: as the only woman to become Mrs. James Bond.
In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Rigg plays Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, also known as Tracy. Over the course of the adventure, Tracy and Bond fall in love and, towards the end of the film, they marry. Their happiness is short-lived as Tracy is gunned down by the vengeful Irma Bunt soon after the wedding. Rumours of a tense working relationship between Rigg and new Bond George Lazenby seem to be somewhat exaggerated, although Rigg cheekily did tell Lazenby she was having garlic for lunch prior to filming a romantic scene with him.
As the 1970s began, Rigg appeared as Portia in a big-screen adaptation of Julius Caesar (1970) playing Portia opposite Charlton Heston, Sir John Gielgud, and Christopher Lee. That year, she also appeared in a production of Abelard And Heloïse by Ronald Millar at the Wyndham's Theatre in London, which transferred to Broadway in 1971 and earned Rigg her first Tony Award nomination. The play was remarkable for two reasons- firstly, Rigg appeared naked on stage during one scene and, secondly, US critic John Simon's review which described her as "built like a brick basilica with insufficient flying buttresses". This scathing assessment led to Rigg publishing a collection of some of the most acerbic theatrical reviews in the wonderfully-titled No Turn Unstoned (1982).
On film, she appeared in The Hospital (1971) with George C. Scott, which garnered her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (which was won by Ann-Margret for Carnal Knowledge) and- in 1973- took what she considered to be her favourite film role. In the wonderfully over-the-top Theatre Of Blood (1973), she plays Edwina Lionheart, devoted daughter to crazed Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price), who aids her father's demented crusade to punish a circle of critics for denying his genius by murdering them all with methods gleaned from Shakespeare's plays. The whole film is a gloriously campy affair, and Rigg seems to be relishing every second of it. She also appears in the big-screen version of Sondheim's A Little Night Music (1977), where she duets with Lesley-Anne Down on "Every Day A Little Death".
Rigg would go on to appear as Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981) and also played the ill-fated Arlena Marshall in the all-star Agatha Christie adaptation of Evil Under The Sun (1982), trading catty remarks with Maggie Smith who plays a longtime rival. She also took the lead in a TV version of Hedda Gabler (1981), played the treacherous Regan opposite Laurence Olivier in King Lear (1983) and appeared as the secretive Lady Dedlock in BBC adaptation of Bleak House (1985). She also appeared as Miss Hardbroom in The Worst Witch, and as the Evil Queen in a retelling of Snow White. In 1989, Rigg played Helena Vesey, a woman who would do anything- even murder- to keep control of her son in the mini-series Mother Love, for which she would win a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress.
In the early 1990s, Rigg took on one of her most challenging theatre roles, playing the lead in Euripides' Medea. As the scorned wife who exacts a most terrible revenge against a faithless husband, Medea is an exhausting and high-energy role. Described by critics as "the performance she was born to give" and "unquestionably the performance of her life", Rigg played the role in London and on Broadway and won an Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She also played the title role in Brecht's Mother Courage And Her Children at the National Theatre in 1995 and was Martha in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? in 1996.
In 1997, Rigg appeared in Rebecca, a mini-series based on the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name. She was utterly chilling as the devious housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, still utterly devoted to her late mistress- even introducing a subtle hint that her devotion wasn't entirely platonic. Rightly, she would win an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries. In 1998, she appeared for the first time as Mrs. Adela Bradley, Gladys Mitchell's gentlewoman sleuth, in The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries. Despite a winning performance by Rigg- casually breaking the fourth wall to discuss her theories with the viewer- the show only ran to five episodes.
Throughout the early 2000s, Rigg focused on television and stage work, playing Mrs. Venable in Suddenly, Last Summer in 2004 and in the stage adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother in 2007. She appeared as "herself" in an episode of satirical comedy Extras, and made two film appearances: as Grandmama in Heidi (2005) and as the Mother Superior in The Painted Veil (2006).
In 2013, Rigg became the first Dame to appear on Doctor Who, when she played Mrs. Winifred Gillyflower in "The Crimson Horror". A seemingly philanthropic woman whose perfect little town of Sweetville hid a much more sinister secret, Rigg seemed to be having a ball, injecting lines such as "Do you know what these are? The wrong hands!" with an undeniable glee. She also gets to use her native Yorkshire accent which is fun. The role of Mrs. Gillyflower was written specifically for her by writer Mark Gatiss, whom she had worked with in the stage version of All About My Mother; it also marks the first time that she appeared with her real-life daughter Rachael Stirling, who plays Mrs. Gillyflower's blind and demonised daughter Ada. As an aside, when Theatre Of Blood was adapted for stage in 2005, Stirling took the role of Lionheart's daughter (renamed Miranda)!
Also in 2013, she took the role of the formidable Olenna Tyrell in cultural phenomenon Game Of Thrones. The acid-tongued matriarch of House Tyrell, known as the Queen of Thorns, Olenna was never far from a sarcastic retort or withering remark. But far from just being a catty old woman, Olenna was a sharp operator and political mastermind who was underestimated at your peril. Her final scene- where she confesses to having Joffrey poisoned and declares before she dies "Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me"- ranks as one of the best final scenes for any character on TV. Rigg appeared in 18 episodes over five seasons, and received four Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
Rigg has also taken other small screen roles in Detectorists, as the Duchess of Buccleuch in Victoria (opposite her Doctor Who co-star Jenna Coleman), and as Mrs. Pumphrey in the new version of All Creatures Great And Small. The last film she appeared in prior to her death was Breathe (2017)- Andy Serkis' directorial debut, a biopic of disabled rights activist Robin Cavendish [played by Andrew Garfield]- where she plays Lady Neville. However, prior to her death, she had completed filming on Edgar Wright's latest horror-thriller Last Night In Soho, which will be released in 2021.
An actress of genuine class, she will be missed. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this time.
