Game Of Thrones Actress Diana Rigg Dies From Cancer
British Actress Diana Rigg who is famously known for roles including Emma Peel in TV series The Avengers and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, has died at the age of 82.
BBC reports that her daughter, actress Rachael Stirling, said she died of cancer, after being diagnosed in March.
“She spent her last months joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession,” she added.
Dame Diana also played the only woman who became Mrs. James Bond.
She played Tracy, who married George Lazenby’s 007 in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Lazenby said he was “so sad” to hear of her death, while Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli also paid tribute.
The Game of Thrones official account also honoured her writing:
Be a dragon.
The realm will always remember Diana Rigg.— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) September 10, 2020
Dame Diana’s other recent roles included the Duchess of Buccleuch in ITV’s Victoria and Mrs Pumphrey in Channel 5’s new adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small.
Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was born near Doncaster on 20 July 1938. While still a toddler, she travelled to India, where her father worked as a railway engineer for the Maharaja of Bikaner.
By the time she returned to England after the war, she spoke Hindi as a second language. She was sent to a Yorkshire boarding school run by the Moravian church.
On leaving school in 1955, she trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She made her professional debut in a production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle as part of the 1957 York Festival.
She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she played a number of roles, receiving much praise for her portrayal of Cordelia in a touring production of King Lear.
In 1965, she screen-tested for the part of John Steed’s female companion in the TV series The Avengers after the departure of Honor Blackman to play Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.