Profile on . . . .

DIANA RIGG

EMMA PEEL in "THE AVENGERS"

'The Reluctant Debutante' would be a not inappropriate description of DIANA RIGG's entry into the select society of internationally admired tele-heroines. For Miss Rigg is Yorkshire by birth and a Shakespearean actress by training, and the combination of North of England reticence on the one hand and classical theatre training on the other makes her something of a temperamental misfit in the you-belong-to-us atmosphere which links tele-stars with their public.

Not that Miss Rigg dislikes fame or money as such. She freely admits that playing Emma Peel has given her confidence and widened her range as an actress, and there are compensations in having money and being well enough known to earn the privileges of fame.

Some of the rewards of celebrity are penalties to her: being approached in public by strangers, signing autographs, making appearances, coping with fanmail. Publicity sessions worry her: she finds it difficult to talk about herself or her work unless the interviewer is on her own wavelength, and to relax with a photographer unless there is a rapport between them.

Diana Rigg is a theatre actress by temperament; she prefers the quiet study of a long rehearsal period, with its opportunities to develop character in depth. Although she is a superbly mettled film actress, working fast and expertly on the studio floor, she is never at her best in the early morning, but reaches her peak in the evening, when, if not working, she loves to cook for friends, to dine out or go to the theatre and to parties. The monastic life which intensive film work demands is thus a considerable sacrifice to her.

Ideally, Miss Rig would like to divide her working life between her first love, the theatre, where she is completely happy, and feature films, where the period of pressure is limited. A television series makes her feel caged, although the professional in her reacts instinctively to the challenge of doing the job well.

DIANA RIGG was born at Doncaster in Yorkshire, England, on 20th July, 1938. She spent her early life at Jodhpur in Rajputana, where her father was in the Indian Government Service. Diana was sent home to school at Great Missenden in Buckinghamsire until her parents returned to Yorkshire to settle in Leeds, where her father is now works manager of an engineering firm, and where she finished her education at Fulneck Girls' School.

From there Diana went on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for the customary two-year course in acting. On leaving she had a difficult time getting started in the theatre because of her unusual height and type, and spent four months working as a fashion model. This experience in fact has proved a great help to her career, since it taught her how to wear clothes with elegance and flair.

Her first professional break came with assignments to two Yorkshire repertory theatres, Chesterfield and York, and in 1959 she was signed to a five-year contract with the Royal Sheakespeare Company. At first Diana played small parts at Stratford-on-Avon, and after graduating to more important roles there she went on to play leads in both classical and modern productions at the Company's Aldwych Theatre in London. Her reputation was made in plays such as "Ondine", "Becket", "The Devils" and "The Physicists", and as three Shakespearean heroines: Helena in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Adriana in "The Comedy of Errors" and Cordelia in "King Lear" .

In the first two of these Shakespeare roles Diana showed her potential as a comedienne: statuesque beauties with a gift for clowning are rare in showbusiness (as witness the success of Carole Lombard and Kay Kendall). And in the Paul Scofield "King Lear" Diana had a big critical success for her new-style Cordelia, played not as the traditionally frail and tearful herone but as a resolute young Amazon with spear and shield.

In 1964 the United States and many European capitals saw Diana in this role, and in her contrasting success "The Comedy of Errors". With the Royal Shakespeare Company she toured the U.S.A. and visited Moscow and cities across Europe. By Royal Command the Company also played "The Comedy of Errors" before the Queen of England and her guests at Windsor Castle .

After all this, she left the Company to try her luck elsewhere, and was immediately signed by ABC Television of Britain to star in a teleplay of Donald Churchill's comedy "The Hothouse". It was Diana's success in this that led to her casting in the role of Emma Peel. Before beginning work on THE AVENGERS, she also played in the Granada Television period comedy "Women, Beware Women" .

It is rumoured that Diana's translation into the world of big business light entertainment caused some thing of a stir in the corridors of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, where there was said to be a sneaking admiration among her former colleagues that a potential star of the classical theatre should have the nerve to break into this somewhat less rarified milieu. "I wanted to show that I could do it" says Diana, "because I don't want to be typed in any one kind of part or tied to any one entertainment medium . " The Royal Shakespeare rewarded her enterprise by asking her back this year to play Viola in "Twelfth Night".

Diana Rigg's success in THE AVENGERS earned her a new attention and respect from the theatre critics who praised her Viola. But establishing Emma Peel had been no walkover. Diana tackled the challenge by insisting on moulding Emma from her own personality.

Now Steed and Emma are accepted as a high-comedy team who have proved that the light-hearted approach is no handicap to a TV thriller series. After a modest start, the Americans took them to their hearts as warmly as the British. As far away as Hong Kong and New Zealand, the new AVENGERS are public idols; much of their fanmail comes from the wilds of Africa.

In private, Diana wears much the same clothes as on the screen: trouser-suits and short, simple dresses; seldom a hat, except for, say, a Beatle cap with sportswear or a frivolous number for evening. Jewellery she dislikes, except for a beautiful modern ring given her by a friend.

Diana Rigg loves old houses and furniture and has no joy in conventional luxury or the clinically modern. During a recent season with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Diana was happy in a 16th century cottage near Stratford-on-Avon.

Diana is an effortlessly good cook she hates synthetic or packaged food, and when possible uses only fresh and hand-prepared ingredients. Dishes like lamb and pork cooked with herbs and fruit, or pancakes with sour cream and liqueur-flavoured jam, give an idea of her specialities. When working, she will go without food altogether, and then tuck in to a hearty meal at the end of the day.

Miss Rigg is a heavy reader, mostly of serious literature, biographies and contemporary novels. But when she relaxes she goes really gay, dancing or gambling into the small hours at the smarter discotheques and casinos. She is also a great one for cosy teas and lunches at chic but old-fashioned establishments like London's Fortnum and Mason store.

In short, Diana Rigg is an intriguing mass of contradictions which nevertheless add up to a woman as stimulating once you know her as her partner Patrick Macnee is as a manO Perhaps the secret of their success in THE AVENGERS is that the public realise that Steed and Emma are fascinating people in private life as well as on the screen.