Farewell Dame Diana Rigg

   I was sad to learn today of the death of Diana Rigg. Although she most recently appeared in the wildly popular "Game of Thrones", and although she would probably resent it a bit, she will always be remembered as the catsuited, butt kicking "Avenger", Mrs. Emma Peel.

Diana Rigg getting the best of the bad guy as Mrs. Peel in "The Avengers". You can watch the great opening and closing credits of the show HERE.

 Some of you long time readers may remember my post on the death of Patrick Macnee back in 2015. We were all fans of the 1960's series "The Avengers" around here. The series starred Patrick Macnee and his occasionally changing female secret agent partner, the second of which was Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. Ken and I both watched the series as kids, and both remained fans of the series throughout our adulthoods. I got very excited when I found our local library had almost the entire series on video,(Remember video?!), in the early years of our marriage. We watched them all. When our kids were little, we watched it with them. Emma, in fact, was at least partially named after the character 'Emma Peel.
  Dame Diana Rigg, born Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg on July 20, 1938 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, lived in India from the age of two months to the age of eight years old. Her father was a railway executive, and Diana grew up speaking Hindi as a second language. She returned to England, to boarding school, and later attended the Royal Academy of  Dramatic Art. Between 1959 and 1967 she performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company. From 1972 to 1975 Diana was a member of the National Theatre Company in London.  Diana performed many roles in London's West End, and on Broadway, where she earned four Tony nominations, one of which she won.  I was lucky enough to see Diana Rigg in a play called "Wildfire" in London in 1986.

  Diana Rigg was Patrick Macnee's second female partner on The Avengers, after Honor Blackman left to be "Pussy Galore" in the James Bond movie, "Goldfinger". There was one more partner after Rigg, Linda Thorson, as Tara King. Diana Rigg is by far the fan favourite though,and appeared in more episodes of The Avengers than either of the other two. Beginning in 1965, Rigg appeared in 51 episodes.  Her character, Mrs. Peel,  frequently found messages from Macnee's John Steed reading, "Mrs. Peel, we're needed." In her second season as Mrs. Peel, Diana demanded more equal pay to her male counterpart, a fairy unheard of thing at the time. Rigg left the series because she was uncomfortable with the lack of privacy  the role caused her, and with being considered a sex symbol. (The character's name even came about because the producers wanted a character with 'man appeal'. The office memo's, reminding everyone of this, shortened the message over time to "M appeal",and the name 'Emma Peel' was born.)  Rigg tried to disassociate herself from "The Avengers" for years, but did eventually come to terms with that part of her career.
  There was also a TV series called, "Diana" in 1973, starring Diana Rigg. It didn't last long, and I was only 11, but I do remember seeing at least one episode of it.

  Diana Rigg also had a movie career. She appeared as James Bond's only wife in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which unfortunately is the all time least popular Bond movie and George Lazenby's only appearance as Bond. (It was the only appearance of James Bond's wife too, because---SPOILER ALERT!--- she gets killed at the end of the movie.)

Diana Rigg and George Lazenby in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".

My kids were very familiar with Diana Rigg's role in "The Great Muppet Caper".

                                                            "Miss Piggy stole my necklace!"

  She replaced Vincent Price as the host of PBS' "Mystery" series. But people these days may know her best from her four time Emmy nominated role on "Game of Thrones".

  Diana was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, (CBE),  and eventually became Dame Diana Rigg. She had one child,at the age of 39. Her daughter is actress Rachael Stirling.

In 2013 they appeared together in an episode of Doctor Who.  Rachael gave birth to Diana's only grandchild, a grandson, in 2017.
  Diana Rigg was diagnosed with cancer in March, and passed away today.