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'
The Yorkshire lass who went on to become a star of the silver screen and James Bond's first wife
Dame Diana shot to fame as Emma Peel in Sixties TV series The Avengers and then as a Bond girl.
But she also notched up many Shakespearean roles and enjoyed a long career, appearing recently as powerful matriarch Olenna Tyrell in Game Of Thrones.
Enid 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.
The actress quickly made her mark there with important roles in productions of The Taming Of The Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth and King Lear.
After that, she was hugely successful in her role as Emma Peel, the secret service agent in The Avengers, co-starring Patrick Macnee.
But Dame Diana was unhappy about the intrusion into privacy that came with being on TV, and she was also critical of the way she was treated by TV bosses.
She also discovered that she was being paid less than a cameraman.
'It was very, very intrusive in those days, because I was instantly recognisable,' the actress later told Variety.
'I was grateful to be a success, but there was a price to pay.'
In 1969, she played Bond girl Tracy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, opposite Bond actor George Lazenby, with whom she had a difficult relationship.
It was in the 1970s that she joined the National Theatre, where she played major roles in Tom Stoppard's Jumpers, The Misanthrope, Pygmalion, Antony And Cleopatra and Stephen Sondheim's Follies.
In a nude scene she played in Abelard And Heloise, she was described by one critic as being 'built like a brick mausoleum with insufficient flying buttresses'.
As a result, she produced a book of the worst-ever theatrical reviews, entitled No Turn Unstoned. It was a best-seller. 
Rigg and her co star George Lazenby in the 1969 James Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service
As Mrs Peel in 'A Touch of Brimstone', the 21st episode of the fourth series of the 1960s cult British spy-fi television series The Avengers, Rigg donned a risqué 'Queen of Sin' costume - which she designed herself
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Diana Rigg and George Lazenby in the 1969 James Bond movie
The British actress made her name in hit TV shows including The Avengers, pictured here in 1967
Dame Diana Rigg meeting the Queen at the Royal Festival Hall after attending a Royal Gala Concert in 1997 to mark her Majesty's Golden Wedding Anniversary
Rigg with her 17-year-old daughter Rachael, at Buckingham Palace where she was made a Dame Commander of the British EmpireSpeaking to the BBC in 2019, Dame Diana said: 'I had one experience, which I'm not about to talk about but when I was very young, with a director who was very powerful.
'I simply, hardly acknowledged it was happening. I think scorn is quite a powerful tool. I would urge women to use scorn whenever possible, because it sort of scorches the gentleman.'
'I'm all for the women who speak out, and I'm very glad that they now have a platform to speak out.'
During her time on the Avengers - when she played Emma Peel from 1965 to 1968 - the star was stunned to discover that she was being paid significantly less than her male co-stars, and threatened to quit unless producers gave her a pay rise.
Bosses on the show obliged, thanks to the show's incredible following in America.
She added: 'I was a lone voice in the wilderness, nobody backed me up. Pat Macnee kept his head well below the parapet when I stepped forward and said ''I think it's quite wrong that I'm being paid less than the cameraman.''
'Of course then I was painted as this sort of mercenary woman, and hard headed and money grabbing and all the rest of it. But it struck me as being unfair so I spoke out.
'I've always thought that equal pay gets you a long way to being treated equally by a man.' #
The Macmillan Cancer Support also charity thanked Dame Diana Rigg for her support.
A statement said: 'We are so sad to hear of the death of Dame Diana Rigg. We want to thank her for her years of enduring support for Macmillan Cancer Support and pass on our condolences to her daughter Rachael and all the family.'
'She went to work with her sleeves rolled up and a smile for everyone': Dame Diana Rigg is remembered as an actress who 'swept all before her'
Playwrights, co stars and producers have paid tribute to the Dame Diana Rigg following her death today, fondly remebering the Yorkshire-born actress who enjoyed a career spanning more than five decades.
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.'Bafta also paid tribute to Rigg, writing on Twitter: 'We're sad to hear of the passing of Dame Diana Rigg, Bafta-winner for her performance in Mother Love in 1990 and joint recipient of the Bafta Television Special Award in 2000 for The Avengers.'
Dame Diana Rigg's Game Of Thrones co-star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau wrote on Instagram: 'Dame Diana Rigg. She always raised the bar with her incredible talent, intelligence and wit. An absolute joy and honor to work with. May her soul Rest In Peace.'
Playwright Sir David Hare said: 'Diana Rigg had a dazzling change of direction in middle age as a great classical actor.
'When Emma Peel played Euripides' Medea, Albee's Martha and Brecht's Mother Courage she swept all before her.'
Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard added: 'For half her life Diana was the most beautiful woman in the room, but she was what used to be called a trooper.
'She went to work with her sleeves rolled up and a smile for everyone. Her talent was luminous.'
Theatre director Jonathan Kent said: 'Diana Rigg's combination of force of personality, beauty, courage and sheer emotional power, made her a great classical actress - one of an astonishing generation of British stage performers.
'I was so fortunate to direct her in a series of great classical roles - Medea, Phedre - in Ted Hughes' version, specially written for her - Mother Courage and Dryden's Cleopatra. Her dazzling wit and that inimitable voice made her an unforgettable leading figure in British theatre.'
Actor Mark Gatiss tweeted: 'It was my great joy and privilege to have known Diana Rigg. From three slightly hysterical months at the Old Vic in All About Mother to writing The Crimson Horror for Diana and her wonderful daughter Rachael. Flinty, fearless, fabulous. There will never be another. RIP'.
John Bradley, who starred in Game of Thrones alongside Diana Rigg, said the actress was 'just wonderful'.
Posting a tribute to the actress on Twitter, he said: 'Diana Rigg was just wonderful. But you all knew that already. Everybody did. Very sad news.'
Afterlife actor Tony Way tweeted: 'A true icon. I met her a couple of times on Game of Thrones. I played Backgammon with her once. She called me a c**t for beating her. She was fantastic.'
Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth said: 'Funny, feisty, beautiful, intelligent and gifted. A whole generation fell for her when we first saw on screen in The Avengers. It's the end of an era - and a special life. A sad day. RIP Dame Diana Rigg.'
Stuart Antony, who has starred in Eastenders, the Bill, Silent Witness and Holby City, tweeted: 'Saddened to hear that Dame Diana Rigg, known for roles from The Avengers to Games of Thrones, has passed away aged 82. She was a lovely lady, fabulous actress with a wealth of stories. Always enjoyed chatting to her.'
Actress Mia Farrow wrote: 'Oh no! She was magnificent!! Gratitude to the great Diana Rigg for so many fearless, fascinating performances. But we wanted more.'
Edgar Wright, who directed Dame Diana's final film, the upcoming thriller Last Night In Soho, said: 'What to say about Diana Rigg?
'I could talk about her incredible career, but for now I'll just say as a lifelong fan, it was beyond a thrill to work with her on her final film.
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