Remembering Dame Diana Rigg

Legendary actress of stage, film, and television, Dame Diana Rigg, passed away this week at home while surrounded by her family at the age of 82. Ms. Rigg’s only child. and a fine actress in her own right, Rachael Stirling revealed that her mother was diagnosed with cancer back in March, and had “spent her last months joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession. I will miss her beyond words.”

Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was born in South Yorkshire near the town of Doncaster in 1938. When she was a toddler, her family moved to India with her father’s job as a railway executive for the Maharaja of Bikaner. Upon the Riggs’ return to the U.K., Diana attended a Moravian Church boarding school in Yorkshire.

She began formal training for her life-long vocation in 1955 at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art alongside other acting legends such as Glenda Jackson and Albert Finney. Her theater career continued throughout her life, beginning with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959. Rigg moved onto productions with the National Theatre and on Broadway in the U.S. where she won a Tony Award for Leading Actress in a play in 1994’s production of Medea. (She appeared on Broadway as recently as 2018 as Mrs. Higgins in a revival of My Fair Lady.)