Diana Rigg: “The Avengers” And Beyond
She was one of the most influential female pop-culture icons of the 1960s, with regard to style, courage, and talent.
She went from playing Mrs. Peel on the small screen to portraying Mrs. Bond on the big screen.
She was not one to suffer fools gladly and was a dedicated advocate for women’s rights and equal rights for all.
She was acerbic, realistic, funny, practical, and compassionate.
Her name was and remains Diana Rigg, who died in 2020, and who once responded happily to the heartfelt words of a fan whose life she had touched in an extraordinary way.
According to The New York Times, Janice M. Cauwels, an adolescent growing up in Maywood, New Jersey in the 1960s, adored Rigg who for only two years played super sleuth, Mrs. Emma Peel, on ABC-TV’s British import series The Avengers [not to be confused with the Marvel film series, The Avengers]. For Cauwels, Rigg’s triumphant TV persona was everything she was not: “independent, brave and beloved.” Cauwels told a friend, “Diana Rigg is not only beautiful but also someone who makes me feel beautiful as well.”
In June 1994, after seeing Rigg take the lead on Broadway in Medea, Cauwels shared her sentiment in correspondence with the lauded actress. The weekend Rigg received a Tony Award for her performance…
