The entertainment world is mourning the loss of Dame Diana Rigg. The British actress of stage and screen who won over hearts with her innate sensuality and charisma. Ms. Rigg passed away at her home in London on Thursday. She was 82. Her daughter, Rachael Stirling, confirmed in a statement that the cause was cancer.
To celebrate the illustrious half-century legacy of Dame Diana Rigg, we’re reflecting on five moments of pure magic that she brought to the screen.
Theatre of Blood
The film that Diana Rigg herself believes to be her best. Douglas Hitkox’s 1973 black comedy is as delicious at it gets. Diana Rigg and Vincent Price are a powerful pair. Price plays scorned Shakespearean actor Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart, who conspires alongside his daughter, Diana Rigg’s Edwina, to execute a serious of marvellous murders against theatre reviewers.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
On a purely aesthetic level, does it get much chicer than being a 1960s Bond girl? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service projected Rigg to a whole new echelon of fame. The only James Bond film to star George Lazenby — and the only film where you see Bond marry the girl. It’s since become a cult in the Bond canon.
Mother Love
Full transparency, BBC mini-series are my Achilles heel. Mother Love sees Ms. Rigg play an intensely possessive parent. The three-part, four-hour series is a completely juicy psychological thriller. Rigg delivers a succulent and psychotic performance in what she’s described as being, “a challenging role that’s impossible for an actress to turn down.”
The Avengers
Ms. Rigg, who was 26 at the time, replaced Honor Blackman (who passed away in April) as Emma Peel in the fourth season of the cult ITV series. Ms. Rigg appeared in 51 episodes of the series between 1965 and 1968, a role that propelled her to bonafide sex symbol overnight.
After discovering that she was being paid less than a cameraman on the series, Rigg advocated for greater pay. “I was painted as this mercenary creature by the press when all I wanted was equality,” Rigg revealed in a 2019 interview with The Guardian. “It’s so depressing that we are still talking about the gender pay gap.”
Evil Under The Sun
An Agatha Christie adaptation starring Dame Diana Rigg AND Dame Maggie Smith… need I say more? A sumptuous locked-room mystery which, in my opinion, sees Ms. Rigg in her absolute greatest outfits. I’d almost go to say that this entire film is just one big ol’ ode to being glamorous. I saw it years ago and whilst I couldn’t tell you a damned thing about the plot, I could relay every outfit in excruciating detail.
