Goodbye to the indomitable Mrs Peel: Acting legend Diana Rigg who starred in The Avengers, was a Bond girl (who actually got to marry 007) and appeared in Game of Thrones dies peacefully at home aged 82
James Bond actress and Game of Thrones star Dame Diana Rigg has died today at the age of 82, following a short battle with cancer.
The British actress made her name in the cult 1961 TV series The Avengers, before going on to star as the cutthroat matriarch Lady Olenna Tyrell in HBO's Game of Thrones.
More recently, Rigg appeared as Queen Victoria's Mistress of the Robes - The Duchess of Buccleuch - in ITV's Victoria alongside Jenna Coleman, and as the eccentric Mrs Pumphrey in the adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small - which aired last night on Channel 5.
The star, who won Bafta, Emmy and Tony awards, also earned worldwide acclaim for her turn as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969.
In the movie, she became only the second Bond girl to marry 007.
Last year, Rigg, who was made a dame in 1994 for services to drama, revealed that she 'suffered a Me Too moment' early in her career at the hands of a 'powerful' film director.
Speaking on Newsnight last year, the actress said she welcomed the rise of the #MeToo movement following her own experience as a young actress and revealed she felt like a 'lone voice' after she discovered she was being paid less than her male co-stars.
Dame Diana, who had a long career both in film and on stage, died peacefully at home with her family, her agent confirmed.
Her daughter, Tipping the Velvet actress Rachael Stirling, said she died of cancer that was diagnosed in March.
Her co stars have flooded social media with tributes to the 'Flinty, fearless, fabulous force of nature', who had a 'dazzling wit and inimitable voice.'
In a heartfelt Instagram tribute, Rigg's Bond co star George Lazenby wrote: 'I'm so sad to hear of the death of Diana Rigg. She undoubtedly raised my acting game.
'The death of Contessa Teresa di Vincenzo Draco created a memorable cinema moment over 50 years ago. As my new bride, Tracy Bond, I wept for her loss. Now, upon hearing of Dame Diana's death, I weep again.'

Diana Rigg as the cutthroat matriarch Oleanna Tyrell in HBO's worldwide hit series, Game of Thrones

Rigg became the second Bond girl to marry 007 when she starred in James Bond 's On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was born in Doncaster on July 20, 1938.
She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1959.
She has been remembered as an actress who 'swept all before her'.
Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli remembered Dame Diana for playing the only woman to have married 007.
They said: 'We are very sad to hear of the passing of Dame Diana Rigg, the legendary stage and screen actress who was much beloved by Bond fans for her memorable performance as Tracy di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the only woman to have married James Bond.
'Our love and thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time.'
Game Of Thrones also paid tribute to on the show's official Twitter account after her death.
It said: 'Be a dragon. The realm will always remember Diana Rigg.'
The actress's agent Simon Beresford said: 'It is with tremendous sadness that we announce that Dame Diana Rigg died peacefully early this morning.
'She was at home with her family who have asked for privacy at this difficult time. Dame Diana was an icon of theatre, film, and television.
'She was the recipient of Bafta, Emmy, Tony and Evening Standard Awards for her work on stage and screen.
'Dame Diana was a much loved and admired member of her profession, a force of nature who loved her work and her fellow actors. She will be greatly missed.'
Dame Diana was married to the Israeli painter Menachem Gueffen from 1973 to 1976, and was later married to Archibald Stirling, a theatrical producer and former officer in the Scots Guards.
She had a daughter by Stirling, the actress Rachael Stirling who shot to fame in Tipping the Velvet.
Rigg and Mr Stirling divorced in 1990 after his affair with actress Joely Richardson.
She also played the Duchess of Buccleuch in ITV royal drama Victoria, the young queen's mistress of the robes, who is 'renowned for speaking her mind'.
In 2015, Dame Diana told Radio Times: 'A black Bond would be lovely. I wouldn't like to see a female Bond, because we wouldn't want to lose the Bond girls. But we could have a lesbian Bond, why not?'
In 2015, George Lazenby addressed the rumour that Rigg, 'would eat garlic before their love scenes', after she wrote an open letter to the Daily Sketch in 1970 about working with him.
He said in an interview with the Daily Mail: 'Not true. We were in the canteen once before a love scene and she stood up and said out loud, 'I've ordered something with garlic in it - I hope you have too!' just as a joke, but it got made into something bigger.'
Writing on Instagram today, Lazenby wrote: 'I'm so sad to hear of the death of Diana Rigg. She undoubtedly raised my acting game when we made On Her Majesty's Secret Service together in 1968-9.
'I remember the press conference at the Dorchester in London, knowing she was going to play my wife. We had fun together on the set of the movie in Switzerland and Portugal.
'Her depth of experience really helped me. We were good friends on set.
'I was sorry to have lost my wife in the film at the end. The death of Contessa Teresa di Vincenzo Draco created a memorable cinema moment over 50 years ago. As my new bride, Tracy Bond, I wept for her loss. Now, upon hearing of Dame Diana's death, I weep again. My deepest condolences for her family. Love George xx'
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