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(1938– ). British actress.
In the episodes of The Avengers that she starred in as Mrs. Emma
Peel, Rigg was consistently a wonder to behold. She was aware of and secretly
amused by her sex appeal, which she could turn on and off in an instant if
necessary. Always intelligent and alert to her surroundings, she could
perfectly adapt to any situation, whether it was carrying on clever repartée
with members of the Royal Family at a reception, extracting information from a
drunken lout in a seedy bar, or surreptitiously trying to steal important
documents from a scientist's laboratory. And she could defend herself against
any adversary—from a common mugger to a malevolent robot—with a few
well-placed karate chops. While some may lament how that once-serious spy drama
gradually descended into science-fictional silliness (as is especially evident
in the episodes specifically produced for American audiences), co-star Patrick
MACNEE and Rigg always managed to maintain their aplomb and treated each new
menace with exactly the seriousness it deserved, so that even scenarios
seemingly stolen from rejected Doctor Who episodes made for watchable
entertainment. Of course, much of the program's appeal derived equally from
Macnee's performance as the suave and unflappable John Steed, but he was never
better than when paired with Rigg; it is hard to remember or care about the
women who preceded and followed her in various incarnations of the series. As
for Uma Thurman's embarrassingly disastrous take on Emma Peel for the recent
film version of The Avengers (1998), any additional criticism from this
corner would be superfluous; clearly, doing Diana Rigg is harder than it looks.
As is often the case when a performer abandons a perfect role, Rigg's
career after she left The Avengers seems disorganized and unsatisfying.
To prove her credentials as a Serious Actress, she appeared in film
versions of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
and Julius Caesar—rather a waste of her talents, really,
but this is the sort of thing that actors often feel compelled to
do. She unfortunately encountered the James Bond films just at the
moment when George Lazenby replaced Sir Sean CONNERY
and, with a department-store mannequin as its centerpiece, not even
Rigg could make On Her Majesty's Secret Service involving.
She was well employed in Theatre of Blood, helping her father
Vincent PRICE murder the critics with demure
efficiency; and she later proved a serviceable villainess as a witch
in The Worst Witch and as the Wicked Queen in a film version
of Snow White. She crossed paths with Price again when she
replaced him as the host of Mystery, the American series that
shows episodes from British television, introducing each adventure
with her usual grace and competence. Battling mad scientists, playing
Shakespeare, apprencticing under and filling the shoes of the great
Vincent Price—Diana Rigg can handle the tough assignments.
There is one remaining question: if Rigg was indeed the perfect
science fiction film heroine, why did she appear in so few science
fiction films? Part of the answer may lie in Rigg's own career choices,
as she has seemed more interested in living down her role as Mrs.
Peel than in building upon it. But a sadder explanation would be the
persistent sexism of a genre that, with a few spectacular exceptions
(like Weaver in the Alien films), continues to prefer letting
the men do all the work and keeping its heroines helpless or unassertive.
(Imagine, for example, how much better Logan's Run [1976] would
have been if Rigg had been cast in Michael YORK's
part.) It is significant that the producers of the James Bond films
toned down her character, and that American television, challenged
to devise an appropriate vehicle for her talents, implausibly chose
a Mary Tyler Moore-ish sitcom, where she floundered for one unsuccessful
season. There is, then, one part that Diana Rigg does not play well:
the domesticated animal.
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