Diana Rigg

Daughter of Louis Rigg (1903-1968) and Beryl Hilda Rigg (née Helliwell) (1908-1981).

British actress Dame Diana Rigg was born on July 20, 1938 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England.

Rigg made her professional stage debut in 1957 in the Caucasian Chalk Circle, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959.

In the 1960s, she lived for eight years with director Philip Saville, gaining attention in the tabloids when she disclaimed interest in marrying the older, already-married Saville, saying she had no desire "to be respectable".

Best known by the public for her role as Mrs. Emma Peel on The Avengers (1961).

She was considered for guest roles in Doctor Who (1963) - Kassia in "The Keeper of Traken", Todd in "Kinda" and Jane Humpden in "The Awakening". She would later play Mrs. Gillyflower in Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror (2013) opposite her daughter Rachael Stirling.

From 1965 to 1968, Rigg appeared on the British television series The Avengers (1961) playing the secret agent Mrs. Emma Peel.

Became an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1967) and was the first as such to join the National Theatre of Great Britain (1971).

Her film roles include Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968); Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and Arlene Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982).

She became a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), playing Tracy Bond, James Bond's only wife, opposite George Lazenby.

Was the first major actor (along with co-star Keith Michell) to appear nude onstage, i.e. in the production of "Abelard and Heloise" (1970).

She made her Broadway debut in the 1971 production of "Abelard & Heloise".

She received Tony Award nominations as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Abelard and Heloise" (1972) and for "The Misanthrope" (1975). She won the Best Actress (Play) Tony Award in 1994 for her performance in the title role of "Medea". In recent years, her performances in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Mother Courage and Her Children" have led critics to proclaim her one of the greatest actresses on the British stage.

She named Theater of Blood (1973) as the best film she appeared in.

She turned down Judy Geeson's role in Brannigan (1975).

She declined to reprise her role as Emma Peel in The New Avengers (1976).

She was originally cast as Mrs. Cromwell in The Sea Wolves (1980) but dropped out.

A savage review from John Simon for her performance in "Abelard and Heloise" led her to collect devastating theatrical reviews throughout history. The result was her book, "No Turn Unstoned", published in 1982.

In 1988, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) at the Queen's New Years Honours for her services to drama.

She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC miniseries Mother Love (1989), and an Emmy Award for her role as Mrs.

She was awarded the 1992 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Medea".

She has had an extensive career in film and theatre, including playing the title role in "Medea", both in London and New York, for which she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

In June 1994, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to drama.

She was awarded the 1996 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performances in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Mother Courage".

Danvers in the adaptation of Rebecca (1997).

She was Chancellor of University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland, UK from for a ten year term from 1998 to 2008. She also received an honorary degree from the same University in 1988, ten years before becoming University Chancellor there, and which officially had no connection. Coincidentally, Rigg was married to Archibald Hugh (Archie) Stirling from 1982-1990, but there was no connection between her ex-husband and the University of the same name, nor for that matter her daughter, Rachael Stirling.

She was nominated for 1999 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award (1998 season) for Best Actress for her performances in both "Britannicus" and "Phèdre".

She was in two TV series about Queen Victoria: as Baroness Lehzen in Victoria & Albert (2001) and The Duchess of Buccleuch in Victoria (2016).

20 October 2003 - British courts awarded her $63,832 and $134,000 in court expenses in her libel suit against Britain's "Evening Standard" and "Daily Mail" newspapers. They had written that she was an embittered woman who held British men in low regard.

She 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.

A smoker from the age of 18, Rigg was still smoking 20 cigarettes a day in 2009. By December 2017, she had stopped smoking after serious illness led to heart surgery, a cardiac ablation, two months earlier. A devout Christian, she commented that: "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!'".

In 2013, she appeared with her daughter Rachael Stirling on the BBC series Doctor Who (2005) in an episode titled "The Crimson Horror" and plays Olenna Tyrell on the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011).

Her smaller-than-usual role on Detectorists (2014) is explained by the fact that her character's daughter, the female lead on the series, is played by her real-life daughter Rachael Stirling.