Why Diana Rigg Was ‘Uncomfortable’ Being a Sex Symbol (Excl)

Reporting by Amanda Champagne-Meadows

A yr earlier than Bruce Lee started doing martial arts on TV’s The Inexperienced Hornet, The Avengers‘ Emma Peel, performed by 26-year-old British actress Diana Rigg, was disposing of unhealthy guys with a well-placed karate kick.

The feisty crime-stopper, and her memorable black catsuits, made the British espionage sequence a success at dwelling and in the US. However Diana by no means aspired to tv success.

In truth, she had by no means even seen The Avengers, the place she changed one other actress, earlier than her audition.

“It was simply a possibility to earn cash,” Herbie J. Pilato, creator of the brand new biography Diana Rigg: One Powerful Dame, solely tells Nearer. “The Avengers grew to become an enormous, large hit. Diana grew to become a intercourse image, and she or he was uncomfortable with that. Her mom used to take her fan mail, as a result of she simply couldn’t have a look at it.”

Diana might have been blind to her personal intercourse attraction, however she understood her personal value. She demanded a pay elevate for her second season.

“She cherished [costar] Patrick Macnee, however she wished to know why he was making more cash than her,” says Pilato. “She wished to know why the cameraman was making greater than her.”

It was not a well-liked stance at a time when few ladies have been courageous sufficient to demand equal pay. Diana left the present after 51 episodes.

Born in England however raised in India till she was 8, Diana found her love of performing very early. “She had a instructor who impressed her and advised her to learn poetry out loud,” say Pilato.

At 17, Diana started finding out on the Royal Academy of Dramatic Artwork. Two years later, she made her stage debut.

“The theater to me is dwelling,” she mentioned. “In some curious means, I don’t belong anyplace else.”

But she experimented with different types of performing. Along with her flip as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, she appeared in a various roster of movies, together with Theatre of Blood with Vincent Value, the musical A Little Evening Music and The Nice Muppet Caper.

“She may go from drama to comedy,” says Pilato, who notes that at one level Diana was thought-about “the Carol Burnett of the U.Ok.”

In her private life, Diana married and divorced twice. She had higher luck in her robust relationship along with her daughter, Rachael Stirling, her followers and younger actors.

“She at all times inspired younger actors to go to the stage,” says Pilato. “She advised them that was what it’s all about, not stardom.”

Mockingly, earlier than her death in 2020 at age 82, Diana skilled a second spherical of TV fame taking part in imperious Olenna Tyrell on Game of Thrones.

“The younger, I don’t count on them to learn about my previous, but when, via Recreation of Thrones, they uncover me, that’s good,” mentioned Diana.

She additionally made her peace along with her time as The Avengers‘ horny crime-fighter. “She realized that some folks have been at all times going to think about her as Emma Peel,” says Pilato. “And she or he grew to become OK with that.”