| Diana Rigg |
Diana Rigg in 2006 |
| Born |
Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg
20 July 1938 (1938-07-20) (age 71)
Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England |
| Spouse(s) |
Menachem Gueffen
(1973–1976)
Archibald Stirling (1982–1990) |
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.
Biography
Early life
Rigg was born in the South Yorkshire town of Doncaster[1] 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[1] and then was sent to a boarding school, 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. 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 1965–68. 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 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.[3] 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. Decades after the play, Rigg revealed to British TV interviewer Michael Parkinson that because of the sexual nature of the play, “Heloise and Abelard” was known in theatrical circles as "On-Your-Knees and Gobble-Hard."
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” (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 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 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 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” (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 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. In 2006 she appeared 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 later 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. [4] By 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.
References
- ^ a b Meet... Dame Diana Rigg, BBC South Yorkshire. accessed on 14 July 2006.
- ^ Article by Nigel Farndale in Sunday Independent, 17 August 2008, page 11
- ^ J.G. Lane, “Diana Rigg Biography”, accessed 15 December 2006
- ^ Sunday Independent, 17 August 2008, op cit
External links
