Dame Diana Rigg RIP

 

So farewell Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg. On the one hand, I find it strange that I am sad at the demise of someone I have never met and did not know. Diana Rigg's work will always be available to me through images and recordings, although there will be no additions to the collection. I send my condolences to all who knew and loved her for their loss.

On the other hand, Diana Rigg was an actress whose work I enjoyed often over the years. Her episodes of the Avengers are timeless, as is her wit and charm. And she could do anything, from Mrs Danvers to Mrs Pumphrey, from Agatha Christies to the Oresteia via a bit of Dickens and Doctor Who. She starred in Theatre of Blood, the only horror movie I've ever enjoyed. She was in Genghis Cohn (the film version of a Romain Gary novel that I wish more folk would read) and she married James Bond. 

There is one way that Diana Rigg had a small and direct influence on my family - my father adored her as Mrs Peel, and went to see her in Jumpers. Being rather short-sighted, he got seats in the front of the theatre, and was thus also able to smell her perfume. Somehow (who knows, and who knows if it was correct information), he learned that the scent she wore was Bellodgia

and consequently presented my mother with a vial (that I later inherited. It was indeed a lovely scent). 

As I sit here remembering all the pleasure Diana Rigg's work brought to my life, I now recall that while I never met her, I did once meet her wig, which was a bit of a thrill. I saw a version of Heartbreak House c. 1983 as a guest of our neighbour Rosemary Harris, in which Ms Rigg played Mrs Hesione Hushabye. Afterwards we went backstage to say hello and thank you, and while we were in the dressing-room, the wig-mistress stopped by to collect Rosemary's wig, and we could see that she'd already been for Mrs Hushabye's!

Feeling grateful for the life and work of Diana Rigg. May she rest in peace.

BBC obituary here.

The Guardian obituary

The Times obit (paywall)

The Telegraph obit (paywall)

NY Times obit (paywall)

Evening Standard obit

A Life in Pictures (the Guardian)
a plethora of Peel pics

Tweets on Twitter in memoriam

Wikipedia entry

2019 interview (paywall)

diana rigg chats to a times' fashionista

my father z"l was one of diana rigg's greatest fans, beginning with her role (and the leather catsuit she wore) as 'mrs peel' in 'the avengers'. he would also take my mother to see her whenever she appeared on the london stage. i sometimes wear the perfume bellodgia because that is apparently what she wore in those days and so my mother wore it sometimes and i liked it etc.

here is what dr had to say about that costume:

"The leather catsuit I wore in The Avengers 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.”"

the whole article is here.