was born on July 20, 1938 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England as Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg. She is an actress, known for 007 al servicio secreto de su majestad(1969), Los vengadores (1961) and El velo pintado (2006). She was previously married to Archibald Hugh (Archie) Stirling and Menachen Gueffen.
Spouse
Archibald Hugh (Archie) Stirling (25 March 1982 - 31 August 1990) (divorced) (1 child)
Menachen Gueffen (6 July 1973 - 3 September 1976) (divorced)
Trade Mark
Deep husky voice
Trivia
She is more properly known as Dame Diana Rigg, the female equivalent of the title "Sir" when knighted. In June 1994, she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her long contributions to theater and film.
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.
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.
At one time, she was Chancellor of Stirling University in Scotland.
Was voted the sexiest-ever TV star by TV Guide in the United States.
Mother of Rachael Stirling (born 1977).
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 was nominated for 1999 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award (1998 season) for Best Actress for her performances in both "Britannicus" and "Phèdre".
She was nominated for 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play of 1996 for her performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".
She was awarded the 1992 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Medea".
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".
Born in Yorkshire, the daughter of a railroad engineer, she moved with her family to India at the age of two months and lived there until she was 8 (she learned to speak Hindi).
The first major actor (along with co-star Keith Michell) to appear nude on stage in the production of "Abelard and Heloise" in 1970.
Became an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 and was the first as such to join the National Theatre of Great Britain (1971).
Received honorary degrees from Stirling University in 1988 and Leeds University in 1992.
Became an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
Graduated from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
Was forced to turn down the role of Elizabeth in La leyenda de la ciudad sin nombre(1969) with Clint Eastwood, due to illness. Jean Seberg replaced her.
Best known by the public for her role as Emma Peel on Los vengadores (1961).
Her ex-husband, Archibald Stirling, is the nephew of Colonel Sir David Stirling, founder of the Special Air Service (SAS).
A smoker from age 18, she continued to smoke 20 cigarettes a day. However, she gave up smoking in 2010 at age 72.
Has acted in both the Doctor Who and the Eon James Bond franchises.
The only Dame to have acted in the Doctor Who franchise.
Parents are Louis Rigg and Beryl Helliwell.
Her acting mentor was Patrick Macnee.
Winner of Doctor Who Magazine Best Guest Actress for 2013.
Although she played Gabriele Ferzetti's daughter in 007 al servicio secreto de su majestad(1969), she is only 13 years his junior.
The only Bond girl to ever get 007 to the alter - "Tracy" in 007 al servicio secreto de su majestad (1969).
Personal Quotes
[on hitting middle age] I am devastated at what has happened. I have completely disappeared. I am totally invisible. I never really liked my sexy label but on the other hand, to disappear so totally is quite startling.
I don't go without make-up, though. I rather like that transformation in the morning from "I don't want to look in the mirror"; then you start pulling yourself together. It's a rather nice present to yourself that you can still do that.
I had an eye job in my early forties. Someone took a photograph of me in a play, after I'd lost a lot of weight, and I did look like Miss Havisham. I thought, "I have to do something - I'm too young to look like this." So I went and had an eyelift once the play was finished, and the doctor said that it would last only about eight years. I imagined after that it would all cave in with a terrible groaning sound, like scaffolding, but it didn't, and I haven't had anything done since. I look at women who are my age who look absolutely ravishing and I know they have had something done. Well, why not?
If I meet a woman who is immaculately groomed, I really admire her discipline. I grew up admiring out-of-this-world screen goddesses, such as Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth, but I have to acknowledge that I haven't the patience for getting dressed up very often - at my age you think: "Why bother?". Now that I'm older, I don't go to premieres or first-night parties, not even my own.
I didn't like my Bond Girl outfits. The designer was a friend of the directors and I thought they were too boring and middle-aged for my character. The right costumes are essential for getting into a part; I've witnessed many costume parades with grumpy or even weeping actors because they've been put into the wrong thing.
In those days, trousers were appallingly cut for women so I used to go to a gentlemen's tailor to have them made. Nowadays you can look at some quite highly priced clothes and be astonished at how badly they are finished. But then, people don't look for that any more, it's only old bags like me that do. When I need to look smart, I go for Armani because he's just absolutely brilliant at tailoring. I always dress for myself, not men or other women. I'm well aware of them though - you get the sweep of the eye up and down and I think: "You poor thing, are you so competitive that you have to measure yourself against everyone else?". It's so pathetic.
I think I was quite daring. I was once escorted out of a restaurant because I was wearing a trouser suit. It wasn't considered good breeding for a woman to go around in trousers after 6:00 pm, especially in smart restaurants and bars such as the Connaught Hotel, which served the best cocktails.
Society was so much more prudish in the 1960s. In one episode of Los vengadores(1961), I played a belly dancer and I had to stick a jewel in my navel because the Americans wouldn't tolerate them. In those days, you didn't flash the boobs at all. What you did do to look glamorous was jack the boobs up and probably wear something quite low-cut.
The leather catsuit I wore in Los vengadores (1961) was a total nightmare; it took a good 45 minutes to get unzipped to go to the loo. It was like struggling in and out of a wet-suit. Once I got into the jersey catsuits, they were very easy to wear but you had to watch for baggy knees; there is nothing worse. I got a lot of very odd fan mail while I was in that show, but my mum used to enjoy replying to it. Some of the men who wrote to me must have been a bit startled because she would offer really motherly advice. I would get a letter from a teenage boy, say, who was overexcited and my mother would write back saying: "My daughter is far too old for you and what you really need is a good run around the block.".
Look at me. I'm a dame and I'm a chancellor.
The older you get, I have to say, the funnier you find life. That's the only way to go. If you get serious about yourself as you get old, you are pathetic.
I think women of my age are still attractive. Men of my age aren't. They've got their cojones halfway to their knees. They have the same descent as boobs.
I don't know how your Guardian readers are going to take this, but I've had a housekeeper for 24 years [as of 2014]. So I'm well looked after. I'm a deeply spoiled woman. I make no apologies about it at all. I think they think: "Oh, poor woman, she's living on her own." Not a bit of it. My bed is turned down every night.
[on the possibility of remarriage in old age]: I'm very good at living with somebody. I think my ex-husband would accede to this because I tend to please. I come from a generation where, when my dad arrived and parked the car, [my mother] would rush upstairs and put some lipstick on, which I think is so charming. I'm wasted living by myself, in a sense. But don't anybody, please, take that as an invitation to step forward.
I don't want to retire. I never want to retire. What's the point of it? ...............................................................................................
