Diana Rigg

She made her Broadway debut in Abelard & Heloise in 1971. Her role as Emma Peel in The Avengers made her a sex symbol. Her eponymous turn in Medea, one of which she performed in both London and New York productions, won her the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, as well as earning her the first of four career Laurence Olivier Award nominations. Rigg was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for The Hospital and a Laurel Award for The Assassination Bureau. A nine-time Emmy Award nominee, she won Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie in 1997 for her role as Mrs. Danvers in the two-part miniseries Rebecca. She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress in 1990 for the BBC four-part miniseries Mother Love and, in 2000, received a special honorary BAFTA. She was appointed CBE in 1988 and a Dame in 1994 for services to drama. Rigg appeared in many TV series and films, playing Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968); Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and Arlena Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982). Her other television credits include You, Me and the Apocalypse (2015), Detectorists (2015), the Doctor Who episode "The Crimson Horror" (2013) with her daughter, Rachael Stirling, and playing Mrs Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small (2020). Her final role was in Edgar Wright's 2021 psychological horror film Last Night in Soho, completed just before her death.

Diana Rigg studied at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Fulneck School. The recorded working language is English and French. The field of work recorded is acting, theatre and film. Residence is recorded at Hammersmith. Employment is recorded with University of Oxford. Distinctions recorded are Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

• Honorific Prefix — Dame • Occupation — Actress • Education — Royal Academy of Dramatic Art • Birth Name — Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg • Born — 20 July 1938 • Birthplace — Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, England • Died — 10 September 2020 • Place of death — London, England • Known for — * The Avengers • Medea • On Her Majesty's Secret Service • Mother Love • Rebecca • Game of Thrones • Children — Rachael Stirling • Years Active — 1957–2020

Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was born on 20 July 1938 in Doncaster, in the West Riding of Yorkshire (now in South Yorkshire), to Louis and Beryl Hilda Rigg (née Helliwell). She had a brother four years her senior. Her father, also born in Doncaster, worked in engineering and moved to India to work for the railway to take advantage of the career opportunities there. Her mother moved back to England for Rigg's birth. Between the ages of two months and eight years, Rigg lived in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, where her father worked his way up to become a railway executive in the Bikaner State Railway. She spoke Hindi as her second language in those years. She was later sent back to England to attend a boarding school, Fulneck Girls School, in a Moravian settlement near Pudsey. Rigg hated her boarding school, where she felt like a fish out of water, but believed that Yorkshire played a greater part in shaping her character than India did. She trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1955 to 1957, where her classmates included Glenda Jackson and Siân Phillips.

Rigg's career in film, television and the theatre was wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1967, including Gwendolen in Jean Anouilh's Becket, Cordelia in King Lear and Adriana in The Comedy of Errors.. Her professional debut was as Natasha Abashwilli in the RADA production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the York Festival in 1957. She returned to the stage in the Ronald Millar play Abelard and Heloïse in London in 1970 and made her Broadway debut with the play in 1971, in which she appeared nude with Keith Michell. She earned the first of three Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Play. She received her second nomination in 1975, for Célimène in The Misanthrope. A member of the National Theatre Company at The Old Vic from 1972 to 1975, Rigg took leading roles in premiere productions of two Tom Stoppard plays, Dorothy Moore in Jumpers (National Theatre, 1972) and Ruth Carson in Night and Day (Phoenix Theatre, 1978). In 1982 she appeared in the musical Colette, based on the life of the French writer and created by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, but it closed during an American tour en route to Broadway. In 1987 she took the lead role of Phyllis in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre, recorded by First Night Records. In the 1990s she had triumphs with roles at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, including Medea in 1992 (which transferred to the Wyndham's Theatre in 1993 and then Broadway in 1994, for which she received the Tony Award for Best Actress), Mother Courage at the National Theatre in 1995 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Almeida Theatre in 1996 (which transferred to the Aldwych Theatre in October 1996). In 2004, she appeared as Violet Venable in the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield's production of Tennessee Williams's play Suddenly Last Summer, which transferred to the Albery Theatre. In 2006, she appeared at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End in a drama entitled Honour, which had a limited but successful run. In 2007 she appeared as Huma Rojo in The Old Vic's production of All About My Mother, adapted by Samuel Adamson and based on the film of the same title directed by Pedro Almodóvar. She appeared as Ranyevskaya in The Cherry Orchard at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2008, returning there in 2009 to star in Noël Coward's Hay Fever. In 2011, she played Mrs Higgins in Pygmalion at the Garrick Theatre, opposite Rupert Everett and Kara Tointon, having played Eliza Doolittle 37 years earlier at the Albery Theatre. In February 2018, she returned to Broadway in the non-singing role of Mrs Higgins in My Fair Lady. She commented, "I think it's so special. When I was offered Mrs Higgins, I thought it was just such a lovely idea." She received her fourth Tony nomination for the role.

From 1965 to 1968 Rigg appeared in the British 1960s television series The Avengers (1961–1969) opposite Patrick Macnee as John Steed, playing the secret agent Emma Peel in 51 episodes. She replaced Elizabeth Shepherd at very short notice when Shepherd was dropped from the role after filming two episodes. Rigg auditioned for the role on a whim, without ever having seen the programme. Although she was hugely successful in the series, she disliked the lack of privacy that it brought and was not comfortable in her position as a sex symbol. In an interview with The Guardian in 2019, Rigg stated that "becoming a sex symbol overnight had shocked (her)". Neither did she like the way that she was treated by production company ABC Weekend TV. For her second series she held out for a pay rise from £150 a week to £450; she said in 2019 – when gender pay inequality was very much in the news – that "not one woman in the industry supported me... Neither did Patrick [Macnee, her co-star]... I was painted as this mercenary creature by the press when all I wanted was equality. It's so depressing that we are still talking about the gender pay gap." She did not stay for a third year. Patrick Macnee noted that Rigg had later told him that she considered Macnee and her driver to be her only friends on the set. • Illustration — Rigg with George Lazenby as James Bond while filming On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). On the big screen, she became a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), playing Tracy Bond, James Bond's only wife, opposite George Lazenby. She said she took the role with the hope that she would become better known in the United States. In 1973–74, she starred in a short-lived US sitcom called Diana. Her other films from this period include The Assassination Bureau (1969), Julius Caesar (1970), The Hospital (1971), Theatre of Blood (1973), In This House of Brede (1975), based on the book by Rumer Godden, and A Little Night Music (1977). She appeared as the title character in The Marquise (1980), a television adaptation of a play by Noël Coward. She appeared in the Yorkshire Television production of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1981) as Hedda, and as Lady Holiday in the film The Great Muppet Caper (also 1981). The following year she received acclaim for her performance as Arlena Marshall in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun, sharing barbs with her character's old rival, played by Maggie Smith. She appeared as Regan, the king's treacherous second daughter, in a Granada Television production of King Lear (1983), which starred Laurence Olivier in the title role. As Lady Dedlock, she costarred with Denholm Elliott in a television version of Dickens's Bleak House (BBC, 1985). In 1986, she played Miss Hardbroom in a Central Television adaptation of The Worst Witch, starring opposite Tim Curry. The following year, she played the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother in the Cannon Movie Tales film adaptation of Snow White (1987). In 1989, she played Helena Vesey in Mother Love for the BBC; her portrayal of an obsessive mother who was prepared to do anything, even murder, to keep control of her son won Rigg the 1990 BAFTA for Best Television Actress. In 1995, she appeared in a film adaptation for television based on Danielle Steel's Zoya as Evgenia, the main character's grandmother. She appeared on television as Mrs Danvers in Rebecca (1997), winning an Emmy, as well as the PBS production Moll Flanders, and as the amateur detective Mrs Bradley in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries. In this BBC series, first aired in 2000, she played Gladys Mitchell's detective, Dame Beatrice Adela Le Strange Bradley, an eccentric old woman who worked for Scotland Yard as a pathologist. The series was not a critical success and did not return for a second season. From 1989 until 2003 she hosted the PBS television series Mystery!, shown in the United States by PBS broadcaster WGBH, taking over from Vincent Price, her co-star in Theatre of Blood. She also appeared in the second series of Ricky Gervais's comedy Extras, alongside Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and in the 2006 film The Painted Veil, in which she played a nun. In 2013, she appeared in an episode of Doctor Who in a Victorian era–based story "The Crimson Horror" alongside her daughter, Rachael Stirling, Matt Smith, and Jenna-Louise Coleman. The episode had been specially written for her and her daughter by Mark Gatiss and aired as part of series 7. It was not the first time mother and daughter had appeared in the same production – that was in the 2000 NBC film In the Beginning – but the first time she had worked directly with her daughter and the first time in her career her roots were accessed to find a Doncaster, Yorkshire, accent. That same year Rigg was cast in a recurring role in the third season of the HBO series Game of Thrones, portraying Lady Olenna Tyrell, a witty and sarcastic political mastermind popularly known as the Queen of Thorns, the paternal grandmother of regular character Margaery Tyrell. Her performance was well received by critics and audiences alike, and earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2013. She reprised her role in season four of Game of Thrones, and in July 2014 received another Guest Actress Emmy nomination. In 2015 and 2016, she again reprised the role in seasons five and six in an expanded role from the books. In 2015 and 2018, she received two additional Guest Actress Emmy nominations. The character was killed off in the seventh season, with Rigg's final performance receiving wide critical acclaim. In April 2019, Rigg said that she never watched Game of Thrones before or after her time on the show. From 2015 to 2017, she appeared in the BBC Four comedy series Detectorists in the role of Veronica, the mother of protagonist Andy Stone's wife Becky, played by her own daughter Rachael Stirling. During autumn 2019 Rigg was filming the role of Mrs Pumphrey at Broughton Hall, near Skipton, for All Creatures Great and Small. Rigg died after the filming of the first season had been completed. Her final performance was in the British psychological horror film Last Night in Soho, in which she had a major supporting role. The film was in post-production at the time of her death and is dedicated to her memory.

• Illustration — Rigg in 2011 In the 1960s, Rigg lived for eight years with director Philip Saville, gaining attention in the tabloid press when she disclaimed interest in marrying the older and already-married Saville, saying that she had no desire "to be respectable". She was married to Menachem Gueffen, an Israeli painter, from 1973 until their divorce in 1976. Rigg had a daughter, actress Rachael Stirling (born 1977), with Archie Stirling, a theatrical producer and former officer in the Scots Guards, and son of Bill Stirling. They married five years later on 25 March 1982, but divorced in 1990 after Archie's affair with the actress Joely Richardson. She had a long and deep friendship with the American playwright Paddy Chayefsky, often leading to rumours of a romance between them, but she always denied it was ever anything but platonic. Rigg was a patron of International Care & Relief and was for many years the public face of the charity's child-sponsorship scheme. She was also chancellor of the University of Stirling, a ceremonial rather than executive role, and was succeeded by James Naughtie when her 10-year term of office ended on 31 July 2008. Michael Parkinson, who first interviewed Rigg in 1972, described her as the most desirable woman he had ever met and who "radiated a lustrous beauty". A smoker from the age of 18, Rigg was still smoking 20 cigarettes (one pack) a day in 2009. By December 2017 she had stopped smoking after serious illness led to heart surgery, a cardiac ablation, two months earlier. She joked later, "My heart had stopped ticking during the procedure, so I was up there and the good Lord must have said, 'Send the old bag down again, I'm not having her yet!'" In a June 2015 interview with the website The A.V. Club, Rigg talked about her chemistry with Patrick Macnee on The Avengers despite their 16-year age difference: "I sort of vaguely knew Patrick Macnee, and he looked kindly on me and sort of husbanded me through the first couple of episodes. After that, we became equal, and loved each other professionally and sparked off each other. And we'd then improvise, write our own lines. They trusted us. Particularly our scenes when we were finding a dead body—I mean, another dead body. How do you get round that one? They allowed us to do it." Asked if she had stayed in touch with Macnee (the interview was published two days before Macnee's death and decades after they were reunited on her short-lived American series Diana): "You'll always be close to somebody that you worked with very intimately for so long, and you become really fond of each other. But we haven't seen each other for a very, very long time." Rigg was a Christian.

Rigg died at her daughter Rachael Stirling's home in London on 10 September 2020, at the age of 82. Rigg's cause of death was lung cancer, with which she had been diagnosed in March that year. In her final weeks, she recorded tapes imploring MPs to legalise assisted dying.

• Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships • Location — Dates — School — Position — Ref. • Scotland — 1998–2008 — University of Stirling — Chancellor • England — 1999–2000 — University of Oxford — Cameron Mackintosh Visiting professor of Contemporary Theatre • 1999–2020 — St Catherine's College, Oxford — Fellow

Sources:

Selected. • Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref. • 1957 — data-sort-value="Caucasian Chalk Circle, The" | The Caucasian Chalk Circle — Natella Abashwili — Theatre Royal, York Festival • 1964 — King Lear — Cordelia — Royal Shakespeare Company (European/US Tour) • 1966 — Twelfth Night — Viola — Royal Shakespeare Company • 1970 — Abelard and Heloise — Heloise — Wyndham's Theatre, London • 1971 — Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York • 1972 — Macbeth — Lady Macbeth — The Old Vic Theatre, London • Jumpers — Dorothy Moore • 1973 — The — Célimène • 1974 — Pygmalion — Eliza Doolittle — Albery Theatre, London • 1975 — The — Célimène — St. James Theatre, New York • 1978 — Night and Day — Ruth Carson — Phoenix Theatre, London • 1982 — Colette — Colette — US national tour • 1983 — Heartbreak House — Lady Ariadne Utterword — Theatre Royal Haymarket, London • 1985 — Little Eyolf — Rita Allmers — Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London • Antony and Cleopatra — Cleopatra — Chichester Festival Theatre, UK • 1986 — Wildfire — Bess — Theatre Royal Bath & Phoenix Theatre, London • 1987 — Follies — Phyllis Rogers Stone — Shaftesbury Theatre, London • 1990 — Love Letters — Melissa — Stage Door Theatre, San Francisco • Busqueda — The Narrator — Queen's Hall, Edinburgh (Edinburgh Festival) • 1991 — All for Love — Cleopatra — Almeida Theatre, London • 1992 — Putting It Together — Old Fire Station Theatre, Oxford • Berlin Bertie — Rosa — Royal Court Theatre, London • Medea — Medea — Almeida Theatre, London • 1993 — Wyndham's Theatre, London • 1994 — Longacre Theatre, New York • 1995 — Mother Courage and Her Children — Mother Courage — Royal National Theatre, London • 1996 — Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — Martha — Almeida Theatre & Aldwych Theatre, London • 1997 • 1998 — Phaedra — Phaedra — Almeida at the Albery Theatre, London & BAM in Brooklyn • Britannicus — Agrippina • 2001 — Humble Boy — Flora Humble — Royal National Theatre, London • 2002 — data-sort-value="Hollow Crown, The" | The Hollow Crown — International Tour: New Zealand, Australia, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK • 2004 — Suddenly, Last Summer — Violet Venable — Albery Theatre, London • 2006 — Honour — Honour — Wyndham's Theatre, London • 2007 — All About My Mother — Huma Rojo — The Old Vic Theatre, London • 2008 — The — Ranyevskaya — Chichester Festival Theatre, UK • 2009 — Hay Fever — Judith Bliss • 2011 — Pygmalion — Mrs. Higgins — Garrick Theatre, London • 2018 — My Fair Lady — Mrs. Higgins — Vivian Beaumont Theatre, New York

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref. • 1961 — Ondine — Bit part — Televised stage performance, Aldwych Theatre • 1963 — The — Francy Wilde — episode: "A Very Desirable Plot" • 1964 — Festival — Adriana — episode: "The Comedy of Errors" • Armchair Theatre — Anita Fender — episode: "The Hothouse" • 1965 — ITV Play of the Week — Bianca — episode: "Women Beware Women" • 1965–1968 — The — Emma Peel — 51 episodes • 1970 — ITV Saturday Night Theatre — Liz Jardine — episode: "Married Alive" • 1973 — data-sort-value="Diana Rigg Show, The" | The Diana Rigg Show — Diana Smythe — unaired pilot • 1973–1974 — Diana — 15 episodes • 1974 — Affairs of the Heart — Grace Gracedew — episode: "Grace" • 1975 — In This House of Brede — Philippa — TV film • data-sort-value="Morecambe & Wise Show, The" | The Morecambe & Wise Show — Nell Gwynne — sketch in Christmas show • 1977 — Three Piece Suite — Various — 6 episodes • 1979 — Oresteia — Clytemnestra — mini-series • 1980 — The — Eloise — TV film • 1981 — Hedda Gabler — Hedda Gabler • 1982 — Play of the Month — Rita Allmers — episode: Little Eyolf • Witness for the Prosecution — Christine Vole — TV film • 1983 — King Lear — Regan • 1985 — Bleak House — Lady Honoria Dedlock — mini-series • 1986 — The — Miss Constance Hardbroom — TV film • 1987 — A — Lady Harriet Vulcan • 1989 — The — Lydia — episode: "Unexplained Laughter" • Mother Love — Helena Vesey — mini-series British Academy Television Award for Best Actress Broadcast Press Guild Award for Best Actress • 1992 — Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris — Mme Colbert — TV film • 1993 — Road to Avonlea — Lady Blackwell — episode: "The Disappearance" • Running Delilah — Judith — TV film • Screen Two — Baroness Frieda von Stangel — episode: "Genghis Cohn" Nominated – CableACE Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie • 1995 — Zoya — Evgenia — TV film • The — Mrs Grose • 1996 — The — Mrs Golightly • Samson and Delilah — Mara • 1997 — Rebecca — Mrs Danvers — mini-series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie • 1998 — The — Madame de Bellegarde — TV film • 1998–2000 — The — Adela Bradley — 5 episodes • 2000 — In the Beginning — Mature Rebeccah — TV film • 2001 — Victoria & Albert — Baroness Lehzen — mini-series Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie • 2003 — Murder in Mind — Jill Craig — episode: "Suicide" • Charles II: The Power and the Passion — Queen Henrietta Maria — mini-series • 2006 — Extras — Herself — episode: "Daniel Radcliffe" • 2013–2017 — Game of Thrones — Olenna Tyrell — 18 episodes Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018) Nominated – Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series (2013, 2014) • 2013 — Doctor Who — Mrs Winifred Gillyflower — episode: "The Crimson Horror" • 2015; 2017 — Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero — Mayor Pink Panda — Voice, 3 episodes • Detectorists — Veronica — 6 episodes • 2015 — You, Me and the Apocalypse — Sutton — 5 episodes • Professor Branestawm Returns — Lady Pagwell — TV film • 2017 — Victoria — Duchess of Buccleuch — 9 episodes • data-sort-value="Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, A" | A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong — Herself/narrator — Christmas special • 2019 — data-sort-value="Snail and the Whale, The" | The Snail and the Whale — Narrator — short TV film • 2020 — All Creatures Great and Small — Mrs Pumphrey — 2 episodes • Black Narcissus — Mother Dorothea — Posthumous release

Diana Rigg was recorded at birth as Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg. The authorities additionally record the headings Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, Diana Elizabeth Rigg and Dame Diana Rigg. Her recorded languages were English and French. She was the child of Louis Rigg. She married Menachem Gueffen and Archie Stirling. One child is recorded: Rachael Stirling.

Diana Rigg is recorded as having received Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Career and activity. Rigg worked in acting, theatre, film, television and television series. She was employed by University of Oxford. She belonged to American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She worked at Hammersmith.

In 1999, Rigg was appointed as the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting professor of Contemporary Theatre at St Catherine's College, Oxford; she held the post for one year. In 2014, Rigg received the Will Award, presented by the Shakespeare Theatre Company, along with Stacy Keach and John Hurt. On 25 October 2015, to mark 50 years of Emma Peel, the British Film Institute screened an episode of The Avengers; this was followed by an onstage interview with Rigg about her time in the television series.

• Country — Date — Appointment — Post-nominal letters — Ref. • United Kingdom — 1988 — Commander of the Order of the British Empire — CBE • 1994 — Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire — DBE

• Location — Date — School — Degree — Ref. • Scotland — 4 November 1988 — University of Stirling — Doctor of the University (D.Univ) • England — 1992 — University of Leeds — Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) • 1995 — University of Nottingham • 1996 — London South Bank University

• Award — Year — Category — Work — Result — Ref. • Primetime Emmy Award — 1967 — Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series — The Avengers • 1968 • 1975 — Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy — In This House of Brede • 1997 — Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie — Rebecca • 2002 — Victoria & Albert • 2013 — Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series — Game of Thrones • 2014 • 2015 • 2018 • Golden Globe Award — 1972 — Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture — The Hospital • BAFTA TV Award — 1990 — Best Actress — Mother Love • 2000 — Special Award — The Avengers • Tony Award — 1971 — Best Actress in a Play — Abelard and Heloise • 1975 — The Misanthrope • 1994 — Medea • 2018 — Best Featured Actress in a Musical — My Fair Lady • Drama Desk Award — 1975 — Outstanding Actress in a Play — The Misanthrope • 1994 — Medea • 2018 — Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical — My Fair Lady • Olivier Award — 1994 — Best Actress — Medea • 1996 — Mother Courage and Her Children • 1997 — Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? • 1999 — Britannicus and Phèdre • Evening Standard Theatre Award — 1992 — Best Actress — Medea • 1996 — Mother Courage and Her Children and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? • Laurel Award — 1970 — Female New Face — The Assassination Bureau — 10th place • Broadcasting Press Guild Award — 1990 — Best Actress — Mother Love • CableACE Award — 1995 — Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries — Screen Two (Episode: "Genghis Cohn") • Critics' Choice Television Award — 2013 — Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series — Game of Thrones • 2014 • Canneseries — 2019 — Variety Icon Award • Detroit Film Critics Society — 2021 — Best Supporting Actress — Last Night in Soho • Alliance of Women Film Journalists — Grand Dame Award for Defying Agism • Saturn Awards — 2022 — Best Supporting Actress — Last Night in Soho