[6] With Stirling, Rigg had a daughter, actress Rachael Stirling, who was born in 1977,[38] five years before their marriage. She died of cancer diagnosed in March, and spent her last months joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession. But it was as the cat-suited Emma Peel to Patrick Macnee's bowler-hatted John Steed in the swashbuckling television spy series "The Avengers" that she became  household name. “The theater to me is home; in some curious way, I don’t belong anywhere else.”, Diana Rigg, Stylish Emma Peel of ‘The Avengers,’ Dies at 82, Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in “The Avengers.”, Terry Disney/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images. By Millennials. DAME Diana Rigg, who broke the mould playing kick-ass heroine Emma Peel in Sixties telly hit The Avengers, has died of cancer at the age of 82. She was 82. She won the 1994 best actress Tony Award after playing the title role in the Greek tragedy "Medea" in both London and New York, and also claimed a best supporting actress Emmy for the 1997 miniseries "Rebecca". Sarah Geronimo, Coke Studio spread Christmas cheer through music. Ms. Rigg is also survived by a grandson. But you all knew ­that already. 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. For Rigg it was a catapult to success, as she went on to become one of Britain's leading character actresses, many of them displaying the same intelligence and steel as Mrs Peel. 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? News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services. 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. Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard said: “For half her life Diana was the ­most beautiful woman in the room, but she was what used to be called ­a trooper. Much was made of our supposed differences but that was the press looking for a news story.”. [27], In 2013, she appeared in an episode of Doctor Who in a Victorian-era based story called "The Crimson Horror" alongside her daughter Rachael Stirling, Matt Smith, and Jenna-Louise Coleman. Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was born on July 20, 1938, in Doncaster, Yorkshire, the daughter of a railroad engineer who soon moved his family to India for a job with the national railway. Her distinguished career was as varied as it was long — including guest-starring on The Morecambe & Wise show, alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Extras and in ITV’s Victoria. [7], Rigg's career in film, television and the theatre was wide-ranging, including roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1959 and 1967. … [20] In 1973–1974, she starred in a short-lived U.S. sitcom called Diana. 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. Gratitude to the great Diana Rigg for so many fearless, fascinating performances. Kris Aquino to appear in GMA special. One of Britain’s greatest actresses, and most celebrated beauties, she was one of the first female stars to appear naked on stage and played the only woman to marry James Bond. [33] In April 2019 Rigg said she had never watched Game of Thrones, before or after her time on the show.[34]. The "Game of Thrones" official Twitter account paid tribute to the actress. But again it was for something of an action role that she received the greatest attention, when she played a crime boss’s daughter in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969), the only James Bond film to star George Lazenby. “She died of cancer diagnosed in March and spent her last months ­joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession.”, Rachael, who seven years ago starred with her mother in a Doctor Who episode The Crimson Horror, added: “I will miss her beyond words.”. Although she was hugely successful in the series, she disliked the lack of privacy that it brought. Diana Rigg died at the age of 82 on the 10th of September 2020 in London, England due to cancer. 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). Actor David Suchet, who starred with Dame Diana in the 1996 West End production of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, said Dame Diana was “very generous and warm”. Her daughter, Rachael Stirling, said in a statement that the cause was cancer. International singer Arnel Pineda revealed an update about the upcoming Hollywood movie based on his life. Ms. Rigg in “The Assassination Bureau,” released in 1969. [39], Michael Parkinson, who first interviewed Rigg in 1972, described her as the most desirable woman he ever met and who "radiated a lustrous beauty". Everybody did. Elijah Daniel calls Bryce Hall the TikTok Karen, Old Picture of Donald Trump & his kids with Jeffrey Epstein resurfaces, Donald Trump & Joe Biden will have Mics muted in their Last…, Old Picture of Donald Trump & his kids with Jeffrey Epstein…, TMZ releases video of Bryce Hall’s brawl with restaurant staff. 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! Dame Diana played villain’s daughter Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo Draco. She ­generally lived the hell out of everyone.”, Bafta said on its Twitter feed: “We’re sad to hear of the passing of Dame Diana Rigg, Bafta-winner for her performance in Mother Love in 1990 and joint recipient of the Bafta Television Special Award in 2000 for The Avengers.”, Never afraid to speak about social issues, Dame Diana welcomed the “Me Too” movement after recalling an unwelcome brush with a film director. [42] By December 2017, she had stopped smoking after serious illness led to heart surgery, a cardiac ablation, two months earlier. This site uses cookies. Samuel West, who plays Siegfried Farnham in the new drama about Yorkshire vet James Herriott, said: “Very sad to hear that Diana Rigg has left the stage. [12], In 2004, she appeared as Violet Venable in Sheffield Theatres' production of Tennessee Williams's play Suddenly Last Summer, which transferred to the Albery Theatre. Her dazzling wit and that inimitable voice made her an unforgettable leading figure in British theatre.”. The series star Nikolaj Coster Waldau, who played Jaime Lannister, said the actress "always raised the bar with her incredible talent, intelligence and wit. DAME Diana Rigg, who broke the mould playing kick-ass heroine Emma Peel in Sixties telly hit The Avengers, has died of cancer at the age of 82. Very sad news.”. Actress Dame Diana Rigg, who played the beloved role of Olenna Tyrell in HBO’s Game of Thrones has died at the age of 82, after a long battle against cancer. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who starred alongside her in the hit series, said: “She always raised the bar with her incredible talent, intelligence and wit. Ms. Rigg at a party in New York to celebrate her 80th birthday, in July 2018. The realm will always remember Diana Rigg.”. After quitting the show, she took the role of a countess who wins the heart of ladies’ man 007 in 1969 Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. She was also chancellor of the University of Stirling, a ceremonial rather than executive role,[6] and was succeeded by James Naughtie when her 10-year term of office ended on 31 July 2008. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on Thursday confirmed that Duterte approved the recommendation, which would mean the resumption of petroleum exploration in the West Philippine Sea. 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". In an early role, she famously played James Bond's wife, Tracy, in the 1969 film starring George Lazenby, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". She will be greatly missed.”. RIP.”. [30] She reprised her role in season four of Game of Thrones, and in July 2014 received another Guest Actress Emmy nomination. Diana Rigg, the British actress who enthralled London and New York theater audiences with her performances in classic roles for more than a half-century but remained best known as the quintessential new woman of the 1960s — sexy, confident, witty and karate-adept — on the television series “The Avengers,” died on Thursday at her home in London. I love to be disliked. Bond franchise producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli praised Rigg's performance as the one woman who got the fictional superspy to the altar. ", "A Plague Infects the Land, as Passion Vexes Hearts". She received the 1994 Tony Award for best actress in a play for her performance in the title role of “Medea.” In London she had already received the Evening Standard Theater Award for the same role, an honor she received again, in 1996, for both Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children.”.