Diana Rigg
Encyclopedia
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
.
, 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
.
, 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
.
. Her marriage to Menachem Gueffen
, an Israel
i 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.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 20 July 1938) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel
Emma Peel
Emma Peel was a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.-Casting:...
in The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo
Tracy Bond
Teresa "Tracy" Bond is a fictional character and the main Bond girl in the James Bond film and novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service...
in the 1969
1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...
James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby...
.
Early life
Rigg was born in DoncasterDoncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
to Louis Rigg and Beryl Hilda Helliwell (1908–1981); her father was a railway engineer who had been born in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. Between the ages of two months and eight years Rigg lived in Bikaner, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, where her father was employed as a railway executive. Rigg speaks fluent Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
. She was then sent to a boarding school, the Moravian school
Fulneck School
Fulneck school is a small, independent boarding school, situated in the Fulneck Moravian Settlement, in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England. It provides education for pupils between the ages of 3 and 18.-History:...
in Fulneck
Fulneck Moravian Settlement
Fulneck Moravian Settlement is a village in Pudsey in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1744. It is named after Fulneck , the German name of a town in Northern Moravia, Czech Republic....
, near Pudsey
Pudsey
Pudsey is a market town in West Yorkshire, England. Once an independent town, it was incorporated into the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds in 1974, and is located midway between Bradford and Leeds city centres. It has a population of 32,391....
. 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
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
.
Career
Rigg is particularly known for her role in the British 1960s television series The AvengersThe Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, where she played the secret agent Mrs. Emma Peel
Emma Peel
Emma Peel was a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.-Casting:...
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
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
between 1959 and 1964. Her professional debut was in The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents....
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
Associated British Corporation
Associated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies established in the United Kingdom during the 1950s by cinema chain companies in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television which was taking away their cinema audiences.In this...
. 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
Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee is an English actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers.-Early life:...
, 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
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
.
She also returned to the stage, including playing two Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
leads, Ruth Carson in Night and Day
Night and Day (play)
Night and Day is a 1978 play by Tom Stoppard. The sets and costumes were designed by Carl Toms and it ran for two years at the Phoenix Theatre in central London, UK. The lead roles of Richard Wagner and Ruth Carson were created by John Thaw and Diana Rigg, respectively.The play is post-colonial in...
and Dorothy Moore in Jumpers
Jumpers
Jumpers is a 1972 play by Tom Stoppard. It explores and satirises the field of academic philosophy, likening it to a less-than skilful competitive gymnastics display...
. A nude scene with Keith Michell
Keith Michell
Keith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...
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
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...
. (Simon's line is often rendered incorrectly, with "mausoleum" in place of "basilica.")
In 1982, she appeared in a musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
called Colette, based on the life of the French writer
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
and created by Tom Jones
Tom Jones (writer)
Tom Jones is a lyricist of musical theatre. His best known work is The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 until 2002, and the hit song from the same, Try to Remember. Other songs from "The Fantasticks" include "Soon It's Gonna Rain", "Much More" and "I Can See It"...
and Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Lester Schmidt is an American composer for musical theatre. He is best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 - 2002.-Biography:...
, but it closed during an American tour en route to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. In 1986, she took a leading role in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's musical Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
.
On the big screen she became a Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
in On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby...
(1969), playing Tracy Bond
Tracy Bond
Teresa "Tracy" Bond is a fictional character and the main Bond girl in the James Bond film and novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service...
, James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
'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
George Lazenby
George Robert Lazenby is an Australian actor and former model, best known for portraying James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.-Early life:...
. 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
The Assassination Bureau
The Assassination Bureau Limited is a black comedy film made in 1969 based on an unfinished novel, The Assassination Bureau, Ltd by Jack London...
(1969), The Hospital
The Hospital
The Hospital is a 1971 black comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring George C. Scott as Dr. Herbert Bock. The script was written by Paddy Chayefsky, who was awarded the 1972 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.-Plot:...
(1971), Theatre of Blood
Theatre of Blood
Theatre of Blood is a horror film starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina Lionheart. The cast includes such distinguished actors as Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Joan Hickson, Robert...
(1973), In This House of Brede (1975) (based on the book by Rumer Godden
Rumer Godden
Margaret Rumer Godden OBE was an English author of over 60 fiction and nonfiction books written under the name of Rumer Godden. A few of her works were co-written by her sister, Jon Godden, who wrote several novels on her own...
) and A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
(1977). She also appeared as Lady Holiday in the 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper
The Great Muppet Caper
The Great Muppet Caper is a 1981 mystery comedy film directed by Jim Henson. It is the second of a series of live-action musical feature films, starring Jim Henson's Muppets. This film was produced by Henson Associates, ITC Entertainment and Universal Pictures, and premiered on 26 July 1981. The...
.
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
No Turn Unstoned
No Turn Unstoned is a collection of "the worst theatrical reviews in history" compiled by Dame Diana Rigg, best known as Mrs Peel in The Avengers television series....
. In 1981 she appeared in a Yorkshire Television production of Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
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
Evil Under the Sun (1982 film)
Evil Under the Sun is a 1982 British mystery film based on the 1941 novel Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie.-Production:The screenplay was written by Anthony Shaffer and an uncredited Barry Sandler...
. In 1983, she appeared in a Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
production of King Lear, starring Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
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
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. In 1988, she played the Wicked Queen in the Cannon adaptation of Snow White
Snow White (1987 film)
Snow White is a 1987 musical film based on the classic fairytale and released as part of the "Cannon Movie Tales" series. Diana Rigg stars as the Wicked Queen.The film was released straight to video...
. In 1989, she played Helena Vesey in Mother Love
Mother Love (TV series)
Mother Love is a British television drama that first aired in 1989. It was adapted by Andrew Davies from Laura Black's novel concerning a mother's obsessive love for her son, vengeful hatred of his father, her ex-husband, and the effect on her daughter-in-law and grandchildren...
for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
; 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
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
.
In 1986, she presented the Scottish Television series Held in Trust, which focused on the work of the National Trust for Scotland
National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland describes itself as the conservation charity that protects and promotes Scotland's natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations to...
and some of its most famous treasures.
In the 1990s, she had triumphs with roles at the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, including Medea
Medea (play)
Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed...
in 1993 (for which she received the Best Actress Tony Award), Mother Courage
Mother Courage
Mother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
in 1995 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick. It was directed by Alan Schneider...
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
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries is a British television drama series, produced in-house by the BBC for broadcast on the BBC One channel, based on the character created by detective writer Gladys Mitchell...
. 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
Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Mitchell was an English author best known for her creation of Mrs. Bradley, the heroine of numerous detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie...
's detective, Dame Beatrice Adela Le Strange Bradley, an eccentric old woman who worked for Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
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!
Mystery!
Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH...
, taking over from Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, 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
Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres is a theatre complex in Sheffield, South Yorkshire comprising three theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio...
' production of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
's play Suddenly Last Summer. This enjoyed a successful national tour. In 2006, she appeared at Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
in London's West End in a drama entitled Honour
Honour (play)
Honour is a 1995 play by the Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith.It tells the familiar tale of a middle aged man, George, who leaves his wife, Honour, and their 24-year-old daughter, Sophie, for a relationship with a much younger woman by the name of Claudia.It was first performed in...
which had a limited but successful run. In 2007, she appeared as Huma Rojo in the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
's production of All About My Mother
All About My Mother
All About My Mother is a 1999 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The film deals with complex issues such as AIDS, transvestitism, faith, and existentialism....
, adapted by Samuel Adamson and based on the film of the same title directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
. She appeared in 2008 in The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
at the Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
, returning there in 2009 to star in Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Hay Fever
Hay Fever
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...
.
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
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
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
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
' hit comedy, Extras
Extras (TV series)
Extras is a British sitcom about extras working on TV and film sets and in theatre. The series was co-produced by the BBC and HBO, and is created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom also star in it...
, alongside Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
star Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series....
, and in the 2006 film, The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil (2006 film)
The Painted Veil is a 2006 Chinese-American drama film directed by John Curran. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham...
.
Personal life
Rigg lived with Philip SavillePhilip Saville
Philip Saville is a British television direction and screenwriting from the late 1950s...
. Her marriage to Menachem Gueffen
Menachem Gueffen
The painter Menachem Gueffen was born of Polish parents in 1930 in Haifa, Israel.-Career:From 1949-53 he studied at Bezalel Art School, Jerusalem; and from 1959-63 at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. His work is figurative and based on the figure of Woman. Gueffen works in large format, primarily...
, an Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i 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
Scots Guards
The Scots Guards is a regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, whose origins lie in the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland...
, from 1982 until they divorced in 1990. The marriage broke up when Stirling had an affair with actress Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
. With Stirling, Rigg has a daughter, actress Rachael Stirling
Rachael Stirling
Rachael Atlanta Stirling is an English stage, film and television actress. She is a two-time Olivier nominee for her stage work, but is best known for her performance as Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet.-Personal life:...
, who was born in 1977.
Rigg was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in 1988 and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(DBE) in 1994.
Rigg is a Patron of International Care & Relief
International Care & Relief
Build Africa is a British registered International development charity, based in Tunbridge Wells, England....
and was for many years the public face of the charity's child sponsorship scheme. She was also Chancellor of the University of Stirling
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...
, being succeeded by James Naughtie
James Naughtie
James Naughtie is a British radio presenter and radio news presenter for the BBC. Since 1994 he has been one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme.- Biography :...
when her ten year term of office ended on 31 July 2008.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Francy | Episode: "A Very Desirable Plot" | |
| 1964 | Festival | Adriana | Episode: "The Comedy of Errors" |
| 1964 | Armchair Theatre Armchair Theatre Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968.... |
Anita Fender | Episode: "The Hothouse" |
| 1965 | ITV Play of the Week | Bianca | Episode: "Women Beware Women" |
| 1965–1968 | Emma Peel | 51 episodes | |
| 1968 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Helena | |
| 1969 | Mini-Killers | Short film | |
| 1969 | Sonya Winter | ||
| 1969 | On Her Majesty's Secret Service On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film) On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby... |
Tracy Di Vicenzo | |
| 1970 | ITV Saturday Night Theatre | Liz Jardine | Episode: "Married Alive" |
| 1970 | Julius Caesar Julius Caesar (1970 film) Julius Caesar is a 1970 independent film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play, directed by Stuart Burge from a screenplay by Robert Furnival. The film stars Charlton Heston , Jason Robards and John Gielgud . It is the first film version of the play made in color... |
Portia | |
| 1971 | Barbara | ||
| 1973 | Theatre of Blood Theatre of Blood Theatre of Blood is a horror film starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina Lionheart. The cast includes such distinguished actors as Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Joan Hickson, Robert... |
Edwina Lionheart | |
| 1973–1974 | Diana | Diana Smythe | 15 episodes |
| 1974 | Affairs of the Heart Affairs of the Heart (TV series) Affairs of the Heart is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1983 to 1985. Starring Derek Fowlds, it was written by Paul Daneman. It was made for the ITV network by Granada Television.-Cast:*Derek Fowlds - Peter Bonamy*Sarah Badel - Jane Bonamy... |
Grace Gracedew | Episode: "Grace" |
| 1975 | In This House of Brede | Dame Philippa | TV movie |
| 1977 | Three Piece Suite | Various | 6 episodes |
| 1977 | A Little Night Music | Charlotte Mittelheim | |
| 1979 | Oresteia | Eloise | TV movie |
| 1980 | Eloise | TV movie | |
| 1981 | Hedda Gabler | Hedda Gabler | TV drama |
| 1981 | Lady Holiday | ||
| 1982 | Evil Under the Sun Evil Under the Sun (1982 film) Evil Under the Sun is a 1982 British mystery film based on the 1941 novel Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie.-Production:The screenplay was written by Anthony Shaffer and an uncredited Barry Sandler... |
Arlena Marshall | |
| 1982 | BBC Play of the Month | Rita Allmers | Episode: "Little Eyolf" |
| 1982 | Hallmark Hall of Fame Hallmark Hall of Fame Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011... |
Christine Vole | Episode: "Witness for the Prosecution Witness for the Prosecution (1982 film) Witness for the Prosecution is a 1982 TV version of Agatha Christie's short story and play, and also a remake of the classic Billy Wilder 1957 film Witness for the Prosecution.... " |
| 1983 | King Lear | Regan | TV drama |
| 1985 | Bleak House Bleak House (1985 TV serial) Bleak House was the second adaptation by the BBC of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. The novel was adapted by Arthur Hopcraft.... |
Lady Honoria Dedlock | 7 episodes |
| 1986 | Miss Constance Hardbroom | ||
| 1987 | Snow White Snow White (1987 film) Snow White is a 1987 musical film based on the classic fairytale and released as part of the "Cannon Movie Tales" series. Diana Rigg stars as the Wicked Queen.The film was released straight to video... |
Evil Queen | |
| 1987 | A Hazard of Hearts A Hazard of Hearts A Hazard of Hearts is a romantic film starring Helena Bonham Carter in one of her first major roles. It is based on a novel by Barbara Cartland and was released in 1987.- Plot :... |
Lady Harriet Vulcan | TV movie |
| 1989 | Lydia | Episode: "Unexplained Laughter" | |
| 1989 | Mother Love Mother Love (TV series) Mother Love is a British television drama that first aired in 1989. It was adapted by Andrew Davies from Laura Black's novel concerning a mother's obsessive love for her son, vengeful hatred of his father, her ex-husband, and the effect on her daughter-in-law and grandchildren... |
Helena Vesey | TV mini-series |
| 1989–2004 | Mystery! Mystery! Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH... |
Host | TV series |
| 1992 | Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris | Mme. Colbert | TV movie |
| 1993 | Road to Avonlea Road to Avonlea Road to Avonlea was a television series which was first broadcast in Canada and the United States between 1990 and 1996. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films in association with CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada.It was adapted from... |
Lady Blackwell | Episode: "The Disappearance" |
| 1993 | Running Delilah | Judith | TV movie |
| 1993 | Screen Two | Baroness Frieda von Stangel | Episode: "Genghis Cohn" |
| 1994 | A Good Man in Africa A Good Man in Africa (film) A Good Man in Africa is a 1994 film, based on the novel A Good Man in Africa , and directed by Bruce Beresford.-Synopsis:... |
Chloe Fanshawe | |
| 1995 | Zoya | Evgenia | TV movie |
| 1995 | Mrs. Grose | TV movie | |
| 1996 | Moll Flanders Moll Flanders (1996 film) Moll Flanders is a 1996 film starring Robin Wright and Morgan Freeman. The film was directed by Pen Densham. The original music score was composed by Mark Mancina... |
Mrs. Golightly | TV movie |
| 1996 | Samson and Delilah Samson and Delilah (1996 film) Samson and Delilah is a German/Italian/American telefilm that premiered on TNT on December 8, 1996. It was directed by Nicolas Roeg. This biblical movie was shot in Morocco.- Storyline :... |
Mara | TV movie |
| 1997 | Rebecca | Mrs. Danvers | TV miniseries |
| 1998 | Madame de Bellegarde | TV movie | |
| 1999 | Parting Shots Parting Shots Parting Shots is a 1999 film starring Chris Rea, Felicity Kendal, Oliver Reed and Joanna Lumley. It was the last film directed by Michael Winner to date.... |
Lisa | |
| 1998–1999 | The Mrs Bradley Mysteries The Mrs Bradley Mysteries The Mrs Bradley Mysteries is a British television drama series, produced in-house by the BBC for broadcast on the BBC One channel, based on the character created by detective writer Gladys Mitchell... |
Mrs. Adela Bradley | 5 episodes |
| 2000 | In the Beginning In the Beginning (2000 film) In the Beginning is a 2-part miniseries directed by Kevin Connor. It stars Martin Landau and Jacqueline Bisset and it premiered on NBC on 12 November 2000.-Plot:... |
Mature Rebeccah | |
| 2001 | Victoria & Albert Victoria & Albert (TV serial) Victoria & Albert is a 2001 British-US historical television serial. It focused on the early life and marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The series starred Victoria Hamilton as Victoria, Jonathan Firth as Prince Albert and Peter Ustinov as King William IV. It was directed by John Ermant.... |
Baroness Louise Lehzen | TV movie |
| 2003 | Murder in Mind | Jill Craig | Episode: "Suicide" |
| 2003 | Queen Henrietta Maria | Episode: "1.1" Episode: "1.3" |
|
| 2005 | Heidi Heidi (2005 live-action film) Heidi is a 2005 British film directed by Paul Marcus. It Is based on the original novel of Heidi by Johanna Spyri. It tells a story about a girl who goes to stay with her grandfather, only to fall into the hands of an evil woman in Frankfurt.... |
Grandmamma | |
| 2006 | Mother Superior |
External links
- DianaRigg.net, unofficial website