Diana Rigg - Actress | Flickr Back to albums list Diana Rigg - Actress Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She is considered a sex symbol and an icon of 1960s feminism. Rigg was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire and between the ages of two months and eight years Rigg lived in Bikaner, India, where her father was employed as a railway executive. Rigg speaks fluent Hindi. She was then sent to a boarding school, the Moravian School in Fulneck, near Pudsey. She disliked her boarding school, where she felt like a fish out of water, but she believes 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. Rigg is particularly known for her role in the British 1960s television series The Avengers, where she played the secret agent Mrs.

Emma Peel for 51 episodes between 1965 and 1967. Rigg tried out for the role of Emma Peel on a whim, without ever having seen the programme. Her career in film, television and the theatre has been wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1964. Her professional debut was in The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1955, aged 17. Although she was hugely successful in the role of Emma Peel, she did not like the lack of privacy that television brought. She also did not like the way that she was treated by ABC Weekend TV. After a dozen episodes she discovered that she was being paid less than a cameraman. For the second series she held out for a raise in pay from £150 a week to £450, but there was still no question of her staying for a third year. Patrick Macnee, her co-star in the series, noted that Rigg had later told him that she considered Macnee and her driver to be her only friends on the set.

After leaving The Avengers she appeared as the title character in the telemovie The Marquise, which was based on a play by Noël Coward. She also returned to the stage, including playing two Tom Stoppard leads, Ruth Carson in Night and Day and Dorothy Moore in Jumpers. A nude scene with Keith Michell in Abelard and Heloise led to a notorious description of her as 'built like a brick basilica with insufficient flying buttresses', by the acerbic critic John Simon. In 1982, she appeared in a musical called 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 1986, she took a leading role in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies. 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. She said she took the role with the hope that she would become well known in America.

Throughout the filming of the movie, there were rumours that the experience was not a happy one, owing to a personality clash with Bond actor George Lazenby. The rumors may have arisen from a reporter witnessing her say "I'm having garlic for lunch George [Lazenby] I hope you are!" before a love scene between the two. However, both Rigg and Lazenby have denied the claims, and both wrote off the garlic comment as a joke. Her other films include The Assassination Bureau (1969), 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 also appeared as Lady Holiday in the 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper. In the 1980s, after reading stinging reviews of a stage performance she had given, Rigg was inspired to compile the worst theatrical reviews she could find into a tongue-in-cheek (and best-selling) compilation, entitled No Turn Unstoned.

In 1981 she appeared in a Yorkshire Television production of Hedda Gabler in the title role. In 1982, she received acclaim for her performance as Arlena Stuart Marshall in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun. In 1983, she appeared in a Granada Television production of King Lear, starring Laurence Olivier in the title role, as Regan, the king's treacherous second daughter. In 1985, she costarred with Denholm Elliot in a BBC production of Bleak House, a novel by Charles Dickens. In 1988, she played the Wicked Queen in the Cannon adaptation of Snow White. 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 1989 BAFTA for best actress. Also in 1989, Rigg appeared in the BBC adaptation of Alice Thomas Ellis' Unexplained Laughter, alongside Elaine Paige.

In 1986, she presented the Scottish Television series Held in Trust, which focused on the work of the National Trust for Scotland and some of its most famous treasures. In the 1990s, she had triumphs with roles at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, including Medea in 1993 (for which she received the Best Actress Tony Award), Mother Courage in 1995 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1996. On television she has appeared as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca (winning an Emmy Award in the process), as well as the mother-in-law in the PBS production Moll Flanders, and as the amateur detective Mrs. Bradley in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries. In 1992, she also played Mme. Colbert Chief Vendeuse to the fashion house of Dior in Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris. In the BBC series The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, 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!, taking over from Vincent Price, her co-star from Theatre of Blood. Her TV career in America has been varied; anomalously she starred in her own sitcom Diana in 1973, but it was not successful. Rigg has continued to perform on stage; in 2004, she appeared as Violet Venable in Sheffield Theatres' production of Tennessee Williams's play Suddenly Last Summer. This enjoyed a successful national tour. In 2006, she appeared at 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 in 2008 in The Cherry Orchard at the Chichester Festival Theatre, returning there in 2009 to star in Noël Coward's Hay Fever.

Although she does not consider herself a singer, her performances in A Little Night Music, Follies and other stage musicals have been well received by audiences and critics alike. She made a highly memorable appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1975, in which she played Nell Gwynne in a musical pastiche, joining Eric and Ernie to sing “How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?”. Her marriage to Menachem Gueffen, an Israeli painter, lasted from 1973 until they divorced in 1976. She was married to Archibald Stirling, a theatrical producer and former officer in the Scots Guards, from 1982 until they divorced in 1990. The marriage broke up when Stirling had an affair with actress Joely Richardson. With Stirling, Rigg has a daughter, actress Rachael Stirling, who was born in 1977. Michael Parkinson, who first interviewed Rigg in 1972, described her as the most desirable woman he ever met who "radiated a lustrous beauty".

Show more Diana Rigg Smoking Cigarette :: Business Smoking Diana Rigg Smoking Cigarette Famous Actress Diana Rigg Smoking About Diana Rigg : Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She is considered a sex symbol and an icon of 1960s feminism. Rigg was born in Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire to Louis Rigg and Beryl Hilda Helliwell (1908–1981); her father was a railway engineer who had been born in Yorkshire. Between the ages of two months and eight years Rigg lived in Bikaner, India, where her father was employed as a railway executive. Rigg speaks fluent Hindi. She was then sent to a boarding school, the Moravian School in Fulneck, near Pudsey. She disliked her boarding school, where she felt like a fish out of water, but she believes 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. Rigg is particularly known for her role in the British 1960s television series The Avengers, where she played the secret agent Mrs. Emma Peel for 51 episodes between 1965 and 1967. Rigg tried out for the role of Emma Peel on a whim, without ever having seen the programme. Her career in film, television and the theatre has been wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1964. Her professional debut was in The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1955, aged 17. Although she was hugely successful in the role of Emma Peel, she did not like the lack of privacy that television brought. She also did not like the way that she was treated by ABC Weekend TV. After a dozen episodes she discovered that she was being paid less than a cameraman. For the second series she held out for a raise in pay from $150 a week to $450, but there was still no question of her staying for a third year.

Patrick Macnee, her co-star in the series, noted that Rigg had later told him that she considered Macnee and her driver to be her only friends on the set. After leaving The Avengers she appeared as the title character in the telemovie The Marquise, which was based on a play by Noel Coward. She also returned to the stage, including playing two Tom Stoppard leads, Ruth Carson in Night and Day and Dorothy Moore in Jumpers. A nude scene with Keith Michell in Abelard and Heloise led to a notorious description of her as 'built like a brick basilica with insufficient flying buttresses', by the acerbic critic John Simon. (Simon's line is often rendered incorrectly, with "mausoleum" in place of "basilica.") In 1982, she appeared in a musical called 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 1986, she took a leading role in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies.

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. She said she took the role with the hope that she would become well known in America. Throughout the filming of the movie, there were rumours that the experience was not a happy one, owing to a personality clash with Bond actor George Lazenby. The rumors may have arisen from a reporter witnessing her say "I'm having garlic for lunch George I hope you are!" before a love scene between the two. However, both Rigg and Lazenby have denied the claims, and both wrote off the garlic comment as a joke. Her other films include The Assassination Bureau (1969), 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 also appeared as Lady Holiday in the 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper.

In the 1980s, after reading stinging reviews of a stage performance she had given, Rigg was inspired to compile the worst theatrical reviews she could find into a tongue-in-cheek (and best-selling) compilation, entitled No Turn Unstoned. In 1981 she appeared in a Yorkshire Television production of Hedda Gabler in the title role. In 1982, she received acclaim for her performance as Arlena Stuart Marshall in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun. In 1983, she appeared in a Granada Television production of King Lear, starring Laurence Olivier in the title role, as Regan, the king's treacherous second daughter. In 1985, she costarred with Denholm Elliot in a BBC production of Bleak House, a novel by Charles Dickens. In 1988, she played the Wicked Queen in the Cannon adaptation of Snow White.

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 1989 BAFTA for best actress. Also in 1989, Rigg appeared in the BBC adaptation of Alice Thomas Ellis' Unexplained Laughter, alongside Elaine Paige. In 1986, she presented the Scottish Television series Held in Trust, which focused on the work of the National Trust for Scotland and some of its most famous treasures. In the 1990s, she had triumphs with roles at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, including Medea in 1993 (for which she received the Best Actress Tony Award), Mother Courage in 1995 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1996. On television she has appeared as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca (winning an Emmy Award in the process), as well as the mother-in-law in the PBS production Moll Flanders, and as the amateur detective Mrs. Bradley in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries.

In 1992, she also played Mme. Colbert Chief Vendeuse to the fashion house of Dior in Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris. Diana Rigg | The Worst Witch Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Years Active 1959-Present Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg DBE (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Diana Rigg played Miss Hardbroom in the 1986 Worst Witch Movie . Contents Biography Early life Rigg was born in Doncaster in the West Riding of Yorkshire [1] to Louis Rigg and Beryl Helliwell; her father was a railway engineer who had been born in Yorkshire. Between the ages of two months and eight years Rigg lived in Bikaner, India, where her father was employed as a railway executive [1]. Rigg still speaks fluent Hindi. She was then sent to a boarding school, the Moravian school in Fulneck, near Pudsey.

She disliked her boarding school, where she felt like a fish out of water, but she believes that Yorkshire played a greater part in shaping her character than India did.[2] Career Rigg is particularly known for her role in the British 1960s television series The Avengers, where she played the secret agent Mrs. Emma Peel for 51 episodes between 1965 and 1968. Rigg tried out for the role of Emma Peel on a whim, without ever having seen the programme. Her career in film, television and the theatre has been wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1964. Her professional debut was in The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1955, aged 17. 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. She said she took the role with the hope that she would become well known in America.[4]Throughout the filming of the movie, there were rumors that the experience was not a happy one, owing to a personality clash with Bond actor George Lazenby.

The rumors may have arisen from a reporter witnessing her say "I'm having garlic for lunch George [Lazenby] I hope you are!" before a love scene between the two. However, both Rigg and Lazenby have denied the claims, and both wrote off the garlic comment as a joke. In the 1980s, after reading stinging reviews of a stage performance she had given, Rigg was inspired to compile the worst theatrical reviews she could find into a tongue-in-cheek (and best-selling) compilation, entitled No Turn Unstoned. Rigg has continued to perform on stage; in 2004 she appeared as Violet Venable in Sheffield Theatres' production of Tennessee Williams's play Suddenly Last Summer. This enjoyed a successful national tour. In 2006 she appeared at 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 in 2008 in The Cherry Orchard at the Chichester Festival Theatre, returning there in 2009 to star in Noel Coward's Hay Fever. Although she does not consider herself a singer, her performances in A Little Night Music, Follies and other stage musicals have been well received by audiences and critics alike. She made a highly memorable appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1975, in which she played Nell Gwynne in a musical pastiche, joining Eric and Ernie to sing “How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?”. She also appeared in the second season of Ricky Gervais' hit comedy, Extras, alongside Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, and the 2006 film The Painted Veil. Personal life She lived with Philip Saville for some time. A marriage to Menachem Gueffen, an Israeli painter, lasted from 1973 to 1976.

She was married to Archibald Stirling, a theatrical producer and former officer in the Scots Guards, from 1982 to 1990. The marriage broke up when Stirling had an affair with the actress Joely Richardson.[5] With Stirling she has a daughter, the actress Rachael Stirling, who was born in 1977. Rigg was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1988 and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1994. Patrick Macnee, her co-star in The Avengers, described Diana Rigg in a July 2006 documentary on BBC Four as “just like an angel coming down from heaven”. Rigg is 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, being succeeded by James Naughtie when her ten year term of office ended on 31 July 2008.

Filmography 1968- A Midsummer Night's Dream- Helena 1969- Mini-Killers (Short film) 1969- The Assassination Bureau- Sonya Winter 1969- On Her Majesty's Secret Service- Contessa Teresa (Tracy) di Vicenzo/Mrs James Bond 1970- Julius Caesar- Portia 1971- The Hospital- Barbara Drummond 1973- Theatre of Blood- Edwina Lionheart 1977- A Little Night Music- Charlotte Mittelheim 1981- The Great Muppet Caper- Lady Holiday 1982- Evil Under the Sun- Arlena Marshall 1987- Snow White- Evil Queen, Snow White's stepmother 1994- A Good Man in Africa- Chloe Fanshawe 1998- Parting Shots- Lisa 2006- The Painted Veil- Mother Superior Television 1959- A Midsummer Night's Dream (TV film) - Bit part 1963- The Sentimental Agent- Francy Wilde (Episode: "A Very Desirable Plot

") 1964- Festival- Adriana (Episode: "The Comedy of Errors") 1964- Armchair Theatre- Anita Fender (Episode: "The Hothouse") 1965- ITV Play of the Week- Bianca (Episode: "Women Beware Women") 1965-1968- The Avengers- Emma Peel (51 episodes) 1970- ITV Saturday Night Theatre- Liz Jardine (Episode: "Married Alive") 1973-1974- Diana- Diana Smythe (15 episodes) 1974- Affairs of the Heart- Grace Gracedew (Episode: "Grace") 1975- In This House of Brede- Philippa (TV film) 1977- Three Piece Suite- Various (6 episodes) 1979- Oresteia- Clytemnestra (TV miniseries) 1980- The Marquise- Eloise (TV film) 1981- Hedda Gabler- Hedda Gabler (TV film) 1982- Play of the Month (BBC)- Rita All

mers (Episode: Little Eyolf) 1982- Witness for the Prosecution- Christine Vole (TV film) 1983- King Lear- Regan (TV film) 1985- Bleak House- Lady Honoria Dedlock (TV miniseries) 1986- The Worst Witch- Miss Hardbroom (TV film) 1987- A Hazard of Hearts- Lady Harriet Vulcan (TV film) 1989- The Play on One- Lydia (Episode: "Unexplained Laughter") 1989- Mother Love- Helena Vesey (TV miniseries) 1992- Mrs.

'Arris Goes to Paris- Mme. Colbert (TV film) 1993- Road to Avonlea- Lady Blackwell (Episode: "The Disappearance") 1993- Running Delilah- Judith (TV film) 1993- Screen Two- Baroness Frieda von Stangel (Episode: "Genghis Cohn") 1995- Zoya- Evgenia (TV film) 1995- The Haunting of Helen Walker- Mrs. Grose (TV film) 1996- The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders- Mrs. Golightly (TV film) 1996- Samson and Delilah- Mara (TV film) 1997- Rebecca- Mrs. Danvers (TV miniseries) 1998- The American- Madame de Bellegarde (TV film) 1998-2000- The Mrs Bradley Mysteries- Mrs.

Adela Bradley 2000- In the Beginning- Mature Rebeccah (TV film) 2001- Victoria & Albert- Baroness Lehzen (TV miniseries) 2003- Murder in Mind- Jill Craig (Episode: "Suicide") 2003- Charles II: The Power and the Passion- Queen Henrietta Maria (TV miniseries) 2013- Game of Thrones- Lady Olenna Tyrell 2013- Doctor Who- Mrs. Winifred Gillyflower Theatre Diana Rigg - Biography - IMDb Diana Rigg Biography Showing all 54 items Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (1) | Trivia (32) | Personal Quotes (15) Overview (3) 5' 8½" (1.74 m) Mini Bio (1) Diana Rigg is an English actress. She has had an extensive career in film and theatre, including playing the title role in Medea, both in London and New York, for which she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Rigg made her professional stage debut in 1957 in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959. She made her Broadway debut in the 1971 production of Abelard & Heloise. Her film roles include Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968); Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and Arlene Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the 1989 BBC miniseries Mother Love, and an Emmy Award for her role as Mrs. Danvers in the 1997 adaptation of Rebecca. In 2013, she appeared with her daughter Rachel Stirling in the BBC series Doctor Who in an episode titled The Crimson Horror and and plays Olenna Tyrell in HBO series Game of Thrones. Rigg appeared in the cult British 1960s television series The Avengers (1965-1967) playing the secret agent Mrs Emma Peel.

She became a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), playing Tracy Bond, James Bond's only wife, opposite George Lazenby. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges Spouse (2) Deep husky voice Trivia (32) She is more properly known as Dame Diana Rigg, the female equivalent of the title "Sir" when knighted. In June 1994, she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her long contributions to theater and film. She received Tony Award nominations as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Abelard and Heloise" (1972) and for "The Misanthrope" (1975). She won the Best Actress (Play) Tony Award in 1994 for her performance in the title role of "Medea". In recent years, her performances in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Mother Courage and Her Children" have led critics to proclaim her one of the greatest actresses on the British stage.

A savage review from John Simon for her performance in "Abelard and Heloise" led her to collect devastating theatrical reviews throughout history. The result was her book, "No Turn Unstoned", published in 1982. At one time, she was Chancellor of Stirling University in Scotland. Was voted the sexiest-ever TV star by TV Guide in the United States. Mother of Rachael Stirling (born 1977). 20 October 2003 - British courts awarded her $63,832 and $134,000 in court expenses in her libel suit against Britain's "Evening Standard" and "Daily Mail" newspapers. They had written that she was an embittered woman who held British men in low regard. She was nominated for 1999 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award (1998 season) for Best Actress for her performances in both "Britannicus" and "Phèdre". She was nominated for 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play of 1996 for her performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".

She was awarded the 1992 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Medea". She was awarded the 1996 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performances in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Mother Courage". Born in Yorkshire, the daughter of a railroad engineer, she moved with her family to India at the age of two months and lived there until she was 8 (she learned to speak Hindi). The first major actor (along with co-star Keith Michell ) to appear nude on stage in the production of "Abelard and Heloise" in 1970. Became an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 and was the first as such to join the National Theatre of Great Britain (1971). Received honorary degrees from Stirling University in 1988 and Leeds University in 1992. Became an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Graduated from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Was forced to turn down the role of Elizabeth in Paint Your Wagon (1969) with Clint Eastwood , due to illness. Jean Seberg replaced her. Best known by the public for her role as Emma Peel on The Avengers (1961). Her ex-husband, Archibald Stirling, is the nephew of Colonel Sir David Stirling, founder of the Special Air Service (SAS). A smoker from age 18, she continued to smoke 20 cigarettes a day. However, she gave up smoking in 2010 at age 72. Has acted in both the Doctor Who and the Eon James Bond franchises. The only Dame to have acted in the Doctor Who franchise. Daughter of Louis Rigg (1903-1968) and Beryl Hilda Rigg (née Helliwell) (1908-1981). Her acting mentor was Patrick Macnee . Winner of Doctor Who Magazine Best Guest Actress for 2013. Although she played Gabriele Ferzetti 's daughter in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), she is only 13 years his junior.

The only Bond girl to ever get 007 to the altar - "Tracy" in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1988 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to drama. Her smaller-than-usual role in "Detectorists" is explained by the fact that her character's daughter, the female lead in the series, is played by her real-life daughter Rachael Stirling. Credits Patrick Macnee as her favorite acting mentor/best friend. Her first husband was an Israeli artist. Personal Quotes (15) [on hitting middle age] I am devastated at what has happened. I have completely disappeared. I am totally invisible. I never really liked my sexy label but on the other hand, to disappear so totally is quite startling. I don't go without make-up, though. I rather like that transformation in the morning from "I don't want to look in the mirror"; then you start pulling yourself together. It's a rather nice present to yourself that you can still do that. I had an eye job in my early forties.

Someone took a photograph of me in a play, after I'd lost a lot of weight, and I did look like Miss Havisham. I thought, "I have to do something - I'm too young to look like this." So I went and had an eyelift once the play was finished, and the doctor said that it would last only about eight years. I imagined after that it would all cave in with a terrible groaning sound, like scaffolding, but it didn't, and I haven't had anything done since. I look at women who are my age who look absolutely ravishing and I know they have had something done. Well, why not? If I meet a woman who is immaculately groomed, I really admire her discipline. I grew up admiring out-of-this-world screen goddesses, such as Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth , but I have to acknowledge that I haven't the patience for getting dressed up very often - at my age you think: "Why bother?". Now that I'm older, I don't go to premieres or first-night parties, not even my own. I didn't like my Bond Girl outfits.

The designer was a friend of the directors and I thought they were too boring and middle-aged for my character. The right costumes are essential for getting into a part; I've witnessed many costume parades with grumpy or even weeping actors because they've been put into the wrong thing. In those days, trousers were appallingly cut for women so I used to go to a gentlemen's tailor to have them made. Nowadays you can look at some quite highly priced clothes and be astonished at how badly they are finished. But then, people don't look for that any more, it's only old bags like me that do. When I need to look smart, I go for Armani because he's just absolutely brilliant at tailoring. I always dress for myself, not men or other women. I'm well aware of them though - you get the sweep of the eye up and down and I think: "You poor thing, are you so competitive that you have to measure yourself against everyone else?". It's so pathetic. I think I was quite daring. I was once escorted out of a restaurant because I was wearing a trouser suit.

It wasn't considered good breeding for a woman to go around in trousers after 6:00 pm, especially in smart restaurants and bars such as the Connaught Hotel, which served the best cocktails. Society was so much more prudish in the 1960s. In one episode of The Avengers (1961), I played a belly dancer and I had to stick a jewel in my navel because the Americans wouldn't tolerate them. In those days, you didn't flash the boobs at all. What you did do to look glamorous was jack the boobs up and probably wear something quite low-cut. The leather catsuit I wore in The Avengers (1961) was a total nightmare; it took a good 45 minutes to get unzipped to go to the loo. It was like struggling in and out of a wet-suit. Once I got into the jersey catsuits, they were very easy to wear but you had to watch for baggy knees; there is nothing worse. I got a lot of very odd fan mail while I was in that show, but my mum used to enjoy replying to it.

Some of the men who wrote to me must have been a bit startled because she would offer really motherly advice. I would get a letter from a teenage boy, say, who was overexcited and my mother would write back saying: "My daughter is far too old for you and what you really need is a good run around the block.". Look at me. I'm a dame and I'm a chancellor. The older you get, I have to say, the funnier you find life. That's the only way to go. If you get serious about yourself as you get old, you are pathetic. I think women of my age are still attractive. Men of my age aren't. They've got their cojones halfway to their knees. They have the same descent as boobs. I don't know how your Guardian readers are going to take this, but I've had a housekeeper for 24 years [as of 2014]. So I'm well looked after. I'm a deeply spoiled woman. I make no apologies about it at all. I think they think: "Oh, poor woman, she's living on her own." Not a bit of it. My bed is turned down every night.

[on the possibility of remarriage in old age]: I'm very good at living with somebody. I think my ex-husband would accede to this because I tend to please. I come from a generation where, when my dad arrived and parked the car, [my mother] would rush upstairs and put some lipstick on, which I think is so charming. I'm wasted living by myself, in a sense. But don't anybody, please, take that as an invitation to step forward. I don't want to retire. I never want to retire. What's the point of it?

See also Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg - Genealogy Genealogy Join the world's largest family tree Gender Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love Build your family tree online Share photos and videos Louis Rigg, Beryl Rigg (born Helliwell) Partner: Archie Stirling, Menachem Gueffen, Philip Saville Daughter: July 20 1938 - Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, England Parents: Louis Rigg, Beryl Rigg (born Helliwell) Ex-partner: Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Early life and education Rigg was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire to Louis Rigg and Beryl Hilda Helliwell (1908–1981); her father was a railway engineer who had been born in Yorkshire.

Between the ages of two months and eight years Rigg lived in Bikaner, India, where her father was employed as a railway executive. Rigg speaks fluent Hindi. She was then sent to a boarding school, the Moravian school in Fulneck, near Pudsey. She disliked her boarding school, where she felt like a fish out of water, but she believes 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. Career Rigg is particularly known for her role in the British 1960s television series The Avengers, where she played the secret agent Mrs. Emma Peel for 51 episodes between 1965 and 1967. Rigg tried out for the role of Emma Peel on a whim, without ever having seen the programme. Her career in film, television and the theatre has been wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1964. Her professional debut was in The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1955, aged 17. Although she was hugely successful in the role of Emma Peel, she did not like the lack of privacy that television brought.

She also did not like the way that she was treated by ABC Weekend TV. After a dozen episodes she discovered that she was being paid less than a cameraman. For the second series she held out for a raise in pay from £150 a week to £450, but there was still no question of her staying for a third year. Patrick Macnee, her co-star in the series, noted that Rigg had later told him that she considered Macnee and her driver to be her only friends on the set. After leaving The Avengers she appeared as the title character in the telemovie The Marquise, which was based on a play by Noël Coward. She also returned to the stage, including playing two Tom Stoppard leads, Ruth Carson in Night and Day and Dorothy Moore in Jumpers. A nude scene with Keith Michell in Abelard and Heloise led to a notorious description of her as 'built like a brick basilica with insufficient flying buttresses', by the acerbic critic John Simon.

(Simon's line is often rendered incorrectly, with "mausoleum" in place of "basilica.") In 1982, she appeared in a musical called 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 1986, she took a leading role in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies. 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. She said she took the role with the hope that she would become well known in America. Throughout the filming of the movie, there were rumours that the experience was not a happy one, owing to a personality clash with Bond actor George Lazenby. The rumors may have arisen from a reporter witnessing her say "I'm having garlic for lunch George [Lazenby] I hope you are!" before a love scene between the two. However, both Rigg and Lazenby have denied the claims, and both wrote off the garlic comment as a joke.

Her other films include The Assassination Bureau (1969), 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 also appeared as Lady Holiday in the 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper. In the 1980s, after reading stinging reviews of a stage performance she had given, Rigg was inspired to compile the worst theatrical reviews she could find into a tongue-in-cheek (and best-selling) compilation, entitled No Turn Unstoned. In 1981 she appeared in a Yorkshire Television production of Hedda Gabler in the title role. In 1982, she received acclaim for her performance as Arlena Stuart Marshall in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun. In 1983, she appeared in a Granada Television production of King Lear, starring Laurence Olivier in the title role, as Regan, the king's treacherous second daughter.

In 1985, she costarred with Denholm Elliot in a BBC production of Bleak House, a novel by Charles Dickens. In 1988, she played the Wicked Queen in the Cannon adaptation of Snow White. 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 1989 BAFTA for best actress. Also in 1989, Rigg appeared in the BBC adaptation of Alice Thomas Ellis' Unexplained Laughter, alongside Elaine Paige. In 1986, she presented the Scottish Television series Held in Trust, which focused on the work of the National Trust for Scotland and some of its most famous treasures. In the 1990s, she had triumphs with roles at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, including Medea in 1993 (for which she received the Best Actress Tony Award), Mother Courage in 1995 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1996. On television she has appeared as Mrs.

Danvers in Rebecca (winning an Emmy Award in the process), as well as the mother-in-law in the PBS production Moll Flanders, and as the amateur detective Mrs. Bradley in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries. In 1992, she also played Mme. Colbert Chief Vendeuse to the fashion house of Dior in Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris. In this 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!, taking over from Vincent Price, her co-star from Theatre of Blood. Her TV career in America has been varied; anomalously she starred in her own sitcom Diana in 1973, but it was not successful. Rigg has continued to perform on stage; in 2004, she appeared as Violet Venable in Sheffield Theatres' production of Tennessee Williams's play Suddenly Last Summer. This enjoyed a successful national tour.

In 2006, she appeared at 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 in 2008 in The Cherry Orchard at the Chichester Festival Theatre, returning there in 2009 to star in Noël Coward's Hay Fever. Although she does not consider herself a singer, her performances in A Little Night Music, Follies and other stage musicals have been well received by audiences and critics alike. She made a highly memorable appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1975, in which she played Nell Gwynne in a musical pastiche, joining Eric and Ernie to sing “How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?”.

She also appeared in the second season of Ricky Gervais' hit comedy, Extras, alongside Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, and in the 2006 film, The Painted Veil. Personal life Rigg lived with Philip Saville.[when?] Her marriage to Menachem Gueffen, an Israeli painter, lasted from 1973 until they divorced in 1976. She was married to Archibald Stirling, a theatrical producer and former officer in the Scots Guards, from 1982 until they divorced in 1990. The marriage broke up when Stirling had an affair with actress Joely Richardson. With Stirling, Rigg has a daughter, actress Rachael Stirling, who was born in 1977. Rigg was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1988 and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1994. Rigg is 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, being succeeded by James Naughtie when her ten year term of office ended on 31 July 2008. Filmography DIANA RIGG Biography - Actors and Actresses DIANA RIGG Biography - Actors and Actresses Name: Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg Born: 20 July 1938 Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg DBE (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Tracy Bond in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Rigg was born in the South Yorkshire town of Doncaster, to Louis Rigg and Beryl Helliwell; her father was a railway engineer who had been born in Yorkshire. She lived in India between the ages of two months and eight years and then attended the Moravian school in Fulneck, near Pudsey. Rigg spent many years of her childhood in Bikaner, India, where her father was employed as a railroad executive. Rigg still speaks fluent Hindi.

Rigg is particularly known for her role in the British 1960s television series The Avengers, where she played the sexy secret agent Emma Peel. Her career in film, television and the theatre has been wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1964. Her professional debut was in The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1955, aged 17. Rigg tried out for the role of Emma Peel on a whim, without ever having seen the programme. Although she was hugely successful in the role, she did not like the lack of privacy that television brought. She also did not like the way that she was treated by ABC Weekend TV. After a dozen episodes, she discovered that she was being paid less than a cameraman. For the second series she held out for a raise in pay (from GBÂ£90 to GBÂ£180 weekly), but there was still no question of her staying for a third year. Patrick Macnee, her co-star in the series, noted that Rigg had later told him that she considered Macnee and her driver to be her only friends on the set.

After leaving The Avengers she appeared as the title character in the telemovie The Marquise, which was based on a play by Noel Coward. She also returned to the stage, including playing two Tom Stoppard leads, Ruth Carson in Night and Day and Dorothy Moore in Jumpers. A nude scene with Keith Michell in Abelard and Heloise led to a notorious description of her as 'built like a brick mausoleum with insufficient flying buttresses', by the crude and acerbic critic John Simon. In 1982, she appeared in a musical called 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 1986, she took a leading role in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies. 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. Throughout the filming of the movie, there were rumors that the experience was not a happy one, owing to a personality clash with Bond actor George Lazenby.

The rumors may have arisen from a reporter witnessing her say "I'm having Garlic for lunch George [Lazenby] I hope you are!" before a love scene between the two. However, both Rigg and Lazenby have denied the claims, and both wrote off the garlic comment as a joke. Her other films include The Assassination Bureau (1969), The Hospital (1971), Theatre of Blood (a film she considers to contain her best work) (1973), and A Little Night Music (1977). She also appeared as Lady Holiday in the 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper. In the 1980s, after reading stinging reviews of a stage performance she had given, Rigg was inspired to compile the worst theatrical reviews she could find into a tongue-in-cheek (and best-selling) compilation, entitled No Turn Unstoned. In 1982 she received acclaim for her performance as Arlena Marshall in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun.

In 1984, she appeared in a public television production of King Lear, starring Sir Laurence Olivier in the title role, as Regan, the king's treacherous second daughter. In 1988, she played the Wicked Queen in the Cannon adaptation of Snow White. In 1989, she played Helena Vesey in Mother Love for the BBC; her superb portrayal of an obsessive mother who was prepared to do anything, even murder, to keep control of her son won Diana the 1989 BAFTA for best actress. In 1986, she presented the Scottish Television series Held in Trust, which focused on the work of the National Trust for Scotland and some of its most famous treasures. In the 1990s, she had triumphs with roles at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, including Medea in 1993 (for which she received the Best Actress Tony Award), Mother Courage in 1995 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1996. On television she has appeared as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca and as the brilliant amateur detective Mrs. Bradley in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries.

In this 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!, taking over from Vincent Price, her co-star from Theatre of Blood. Her TV career in America has been varied; most famously she starred in her own series Diana, but it was not successful. Rigg has continued to perform on stage in London, the latest play being a drama entitled Honour which had a limited but successful run in 2006. Although she does not consider herself a singer, her performances in A Little Night Music, Follies and other stage musicals have been well received by audiences and critics alike.

She made a highly memorable appearance with Morecambe and Wise in 1976, in which she played Nell Gwynne in a musical pastiche, joining Eric and Ernie to sing âHow Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?â. She also appeared in the second season of Ricky Gervais' hit comedy, Extras, alongside Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. She currently 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 AlmodÃ³var. Her next stage appearance will be in The Cherry Orchard at the Chichester Festival. Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg DBE (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Tracy Bond in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Rigg is particularly known for her role in the British 1960s television series The Avengers, where she played the sexy secret agent Emma Peel.

Her career in film, television and the theatre has been wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1964. Her professional debut was in The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1955, aged 17. Rigg tried out for the role of Emma Peel on a whim, without ever having seen the programme. Although she was hugely successful in the role, she did not like the lack of privacy that television brought. She also did not like the way that she was treated by ABC Weekend TV. After a dozen episodes, she discovered that she was being paid less than a cameraman. For the second series she held out for a raise in pay (from GB£90 to GB£180 weekly), but there was still no question of her staying for a third year. Patrick Macnee, her co-star in the series, noted that Rigg had later told him that she considered Macnee and her driver to be her only friends on the set.[2] After leaving The Avengers she appeared as the title character in the telemovie The Marquise, which was based on a play by Noel Coward.

She also returned to the stage, including playing two Tom Stoppard leads, Ruth Carson in Night and Day and Dorothy Moore in Jumpers. A nude scene with Keith Michell in Abelard and Heloise led to a notorious description of her as 'built like a brick mausoleum with insufficient flying buttresses', by the crude and acerbic critic John Simon. In 1982, she appeared in a musical called 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 1986, she took a leading role in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies. On the big screen she became a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), playing Tracy Draco, James Bond's only wife. Throughout the filming of the movie, there were rumors that the experience was not a happy one, owing to a personality clash with Bond actor George Lazenby. The rumors may have arisen from a reporter witnessing her say "I'm having Garlic for lunch George [Lazenby] I hope you are!" before a love scene between the two.

However, both Rigg and Lazenby have denied the claims, and both wrote off the garlic comment as a joke. Her other films include The Assassination Bureau (1969), The Hospital (1971), Theatre of Blood (a film she considers to contain her best work) (1973), and A Little Night Music (1977). She also appeared as Lady Holiday in the 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper. In the 1980s, after reading stinging reviews of a stage performance she had given, Rigg was inspired to compile the worst theatrical reviews she could find into a tongue-in-cheek (and best-selling) compilation, entitled No Turn Unstoned. In 1981 she appeared in a Yorkshire Television production of Hedda Gabler in the title role. In 1982 she received acclaim for her performance as Arlena Stuart Marshall in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun. In 1984, she appeared in a public television production of King Lear, starring Sir Laurence Olivier in the title role, as Regan, the king's treacherous second daughter.

In 1988, she played the Wicked Queen in the Cannon adaptation of Snow White. In 1989, she played Helena Vesey in Mother Love for the BBC; her superb portrayal of an obsessive mother who was prepared to do anything, even murder, to keep control of her son won Diana the 1989 BAFTA for best actress. In 1986, she presented the Scottish Television series Held in Trust, which focused on the work of the National Trust for Scotland and some of its most famous treasures. In the 1990s, she had triumphs with roles at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, including Medea in 1993 (for which she received the Best Actress Tony Award), Mother Courage in 1995 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1996. On television she has appeared as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca and as the brilliant amateur detective Mrs. Bradley in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries. In this 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!, taking over from Vincent Price, her co-star from Theatre of Blood. Her TV career in America has been varied; most famously she starred in her own series Diana, but it was not successful. Rigg has continued to perform on stage in London, the latest play being a drama entitled Honour which had a limited but successful run in 2006. Although she does not consider herself a singer, her performances in A Little Night Music, Follies and other stage musicals have been well received by audiences and critics alike. She made a highly memorable appearance with Morecambe and Wise in 1976, in which she played Nell Gwynne in a musical pastiche, joining Eric and Ernie to sing How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?. She also appeared in the second season of Ricky Gervais' hit comedy, Extras, alongside Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe.

She recently 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. Her next stage appearance will be in The Cherry Orchard at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Diana Rigg Click the picture to start download

Question: Which British actress (and DBE) wrote an autobiography, entitled "No Turn Unstoned"?
Answer: Diana Rigg