FRIENDS of JUSTICE: Happy Birthday, Dame Diana Rigg!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Happy Birthday, Dame Diana Rigg!

I first came across Diana Rigg...oh, excuse me, DAME Diana Rigg, when I was about 12 or so. That's the perfect age to see Mrs. Emma Peel dressed up in leather or form-fitting leotards throwing big bad guys over her shoulder, heh-heh. I'm talking about, of course, THE AVENGERS. Diana Rigg was on the British series from 1965-1968, but I didn't watch it until it came around in re-run syndication a few years later.

I fell immediately in love. While other boys were infatuated with Farrah or Cheryl, I was in love with Diana Rigg, Yvonne Craig, and Lynda Carter. Ah, fan-boy fantasies. :-)

Originally I had no idea what the relationship was between her Mrs. Peel and Patrick Macnee's John Steed. In fact, it was years later when I realized that she was a talented amateur and he was the professional spy. And were they or weren't they? I loved how it was kept mysterious.

I still watched the show even after she left, but Linda Thorson as Tara King was nowhere near as attractive to me as Diana Rigg was. I was not surprised when it was cancelled after she left.

This Friday is Dame Diana Rigg's birthday. She was born on July 20, 1938. So she would have been about 30 when she left THE AVENGERS. She went on to do ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU, THE HOSPITAL, and her classic, THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER. Plus she has been a staple on BBC dramas and on the London stage.

I had no problem believing that if James Bond was going to get married, he'd chose Diana Rigg.

Last week she was in the news because she and her daughter, Rachel Stirling, are scheduled to appear on a new episode of DR. WHO in the coming year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIANA RIGG!

May you have many, many more to enjoy!!