DR

Diana Rigg has died. (I'm going to keep this short, because I'm working with a new template this blog has forced on me, and I'm not sure exactly how to use it.  The photos are down below because I can't figure out how to embed them--I can't even adjust their size.)

Rigg was a talented and beautiful actress best known early in her career for playing Emma Peel in the British spy series The Avengers. (I believe the name stood for "m. appeal"--male or masculine appeal.) She was on the series for three years as the partner of John Steed (he was there before she was, and stuck around after).  Emma left when her husband, to the surprise of many, finally returned. (She and Steed had a great relationship, but her being married precluded any hanky panky.)

The show was stylish, mod, and often sci-fi.  And Emma Peel, who could take on anyone, male or female, was one of the great sex symbols of the 60s.

Soon after leaving the show, she appeared as one of the most memorable Bond girls in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Indeed, she's the one who got to marry Bond--a mistake, since it meant she had to die before the closing credits.

Rigg worked in theatre, movies and TV over the decades--even starring in her own American sitcom in the 1970s (which lasted a season).  But no role got the attention of Emma Peel until, well into her 70s, she was featured on Game Of Thrones as the sharp-witted Olenna Tyrell, matriarch of House Tyrell.

She had a good run, lasting five seasons, before finally being dispatched in a great scene by Jaime Lannister.  Before then, she was as dangerous as any character on the show.

It was quite a comeback--not that she'd ever truly been away.  But it introduced her to a whole new generation, and showed her talent had not waned one bit.