The death of Dame Diana Rigg has been announced today, she had been suffering from cancer. An accomplished stage actress, she made the move to television with her most celebrated role as Emma Peel in adventure series The Avengers, one of the greatest shows of the 1960s that still commands a following to this day, though she had mixed feelings about it. Mrs Peel was credited with being one of the most visible examples of how women's roles in the culture were changing, and Rigg's humour and aptitude were a major part of that rise.
After she left the series, she switched between stage and film, most famously as Tracey, the only woman James Bond ever married in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, where she arguably overshadowed her co-star George Lazenby. Other film roles included The Assassination Bureau, The Hospital with George C. Scott, Theatre of Blood with Vincent Price (a film she loved, not being a fan of harsh critics), The Great Muppet Caper and Agatha Christie adaptation Evil Under the Sun, though television saw her at her most visible in the latter part of her career.
Thriller serial Mother Love won her a BAFTA, she was Mrs Danvers in a Rebecca miniseries, she had a Doctor Who episode written especially for her and her daughter Rachael Stirling, and latterly she had guest roles in Victoria, Game of Thrones and All Creatures Great and Small. Always serious about her craft but with a sense of humour about her roles, she was more than a 60s icon. She still has one more film to be released, Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho.
