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Portrait of Diana Rigg

Diana Rigg

(1938–2020) Television Actor United Kingdom

104 quotes in 378 categories

Being single is celebrated as a source of joy and freedom. Diana Rigg shares that humor grows with age and that a life after beauty can be full of fun, while also demanding equal power and pay for women. She adds that simple gestures, like a door held open, can bring delight.

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Diana Rigg was a television actor from the United Kingdom, best known for No Turn Unstoned.

Quick Facts About Diana Rigg

Born: July 20, 1938
Died: September 10, 2020
Nationality: United Kingdom
Profession: Television Actor
Notable works: No Turn Unstoned
Spouse: Archie Stirling

About Diana Rigg

Born Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, she played Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers from 1965 to 1968, Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969, Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones between 2013 and 2017, and starred as Medea in the West End in 1993 before taking the role to Broadway a year later.

Awards & Honors

Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire Commander of the Order of the British Empire Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress

Quotes by Diana Rigg

I never get lonely; even as a child, I didn't.

Child

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I'm portrayed as this tough broad, but I'm not.

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I don't have it in for critics, and I never have.

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I read prodigiously as a child, and I still do.

Books

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I think Thespis just wanted to be a solo player, you know?

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I rely upon the directors to fill me in before a shot.

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I think women of my age are still attractive.

Age

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I regard bed as my best friend.

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I would like to keep working forever. As long as they will have me.

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If you get serious about yourself as you get old, you are pathetic.

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I thought it was ridiculous that I was being paid less than a cameraman, and I wanted to shame them. And I…

Being

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These days, it's perfectly normal to move between the theatre and television.

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They do say that the profession gets increasingly difficult, but my career seems to have been inside out.

Career

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It's a question of economics. If you're paid the same as a man, which now you are in this profession, you're equal.

Career

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I've been utterly and completely castigated from time to time.

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I cry all the time. Remembrance Day in particular. In fact, anything to do with veterans makes me sob.

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In actual fact, I doubled 'Twelfth Night' and 'The Avengers'. I was going backwards and forwards to Stratford. I played matinees Wednesday,…

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I'm an old bag for the most part on 'Game Of Thrones', so it's so lovely to be glamorous - as glamorous…

Age

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Once, when I was playing a nude scene in an indifferent play in New York, a critic wrote, 'Diana Rigg is built…

Actor

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It would be nice if they didn't make me get up at 5 A.M. for a 12-hour day. My caravan is never…

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You'll always be close to somebody that you worked with very intimately for so long, and you become really fond of each…

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I don't mind getting old except for the pain. I have two new knees, so going downstairs is not perfect. Nobody tells…

Getting old

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'Medea' is an enormous challenge for an actor physically, mentally, emotionally. You have to dig very, very deep, and to work, your…

Actor

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They do say that the profession gets increasingly difficult, but my career seems to have been inside out. I'm playing the biggest…

Career

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Some of those early photographs of me might as well be sepia. It's always thought that I disclaim television and am too…

Avengers

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Years ago I was at a function, and I must have said something really rude to Paul Daniels the magician. I can't…

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I was very, very young, living in India. I'd been put to bed in the afternoon, and I had that lovely feeling…

Happy and content

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The thing I absolutely hate is when directors don't know what they want, and then they ask you to do it this…

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There was a guy called Carlos Thompson, who was I think Argentinian, and he was doing a series called 'Sentimental Agent'. That…

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'Game of Thrones' is wonderful. My theory is they employ all these British actors because, one, they are like me and grateful.…

British

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I was nice and well-mannered because I was taught manners. I was very imaginative and quite adventurous. I was a tomboy, and…

Brother

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I hope there's a tinge of disgrace about me. Hopefully, there's one good scandal left in me yet.

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I made a bit of a stink. At the time, it was considered very bad form.

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I'd love to have done more film, but you can't have everything.

Cinema

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I would head to the countryside for peace and silence. That would be the best way, away from panicked, hysterical people.

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I am not aware of fans, because I don't live that sort of life, but I am awfully grateful.

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Working keeps me young. Anything that exercises the brain like learning lines.

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Tabloid newspapers are very rich and hold huge funds to fight claims.

Fight

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I don't mean to be oily, but critics are very much part of the theatre.

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I'm so lucky. I could be sitting at home crumbling, but I'm not.

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Diana Rigg by topic