(Enid) Diana (Elizabeth) Rigg was born July 20th 1938 in Doncaster, Yorkshire to parents Louis and Beryl. She has one older brother, Hugh. Diana lived in India until she was 8 and was then sent to boarding school in England. From there she attended Fulneck Girls School in Yorkshire, who claim to still have her 'defaced' school desk!
RADA was next, where she soon became bored after discovering “the delights of London life”. After spending some time in repertory in Chesterfield and York, Diana joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where she played roles such as: Cordelia to Paul Scofield's flatulent King Lear, Viola in Twelfth Night and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In 1965 our lives were changed forever when Mrs Emma Peel burst onto our TV screens "like a speeding bullet".
Then, came Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (que bella!) or Tracy in 1969's Bond outing On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Other films
include: The Assassination Bureau, The
Hospital, Theatre of Blood, Evil Under the Sun; Heidi and, in 2006 The Painted Veil.
She first appeared on British television in 1963 in the series The Sentimental Agent in the episode A Very Desirable Plot. Other appearances include King Lear with Laurence Olivier, Three Piece Suite, In This House of Brede, Mother Love, Rebecca, Unexplained Laughter, The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Murder in Mind and, in 2006 Extras.
Stage work includes: King Lear, The Devils, Ondine, Taming of the Shrew, Abelard & Heloise, Jumpers, Follies, Medea, Pygmalion, The Misanthrope, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Phedre, Mother Courage and her Children, Humble Boy, Suddenly Last Summer, Honour, All About My Mother and The Cherry Orchard.
Her daughter is actress Rachael Stirling.
2009: Dame Diana returned to Chichester to play Judith Bliss in Noel Coward's 'Hay Fever'.
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