Diana Rigg, as Emma Peel, has an enduring allure. She had it then and will forever have it. Part of it was the times. In the UK series, The Avengers, the male lead was the dandy, focused on his clothing appearance, and the female lead, Diana Rigg, was the one who would get into the fights – and win!
And still today, she somehow shines on. Fans still can’t get enough of her. Here’s a bit of my recent summer/fall reading. It shows I’m just one of the many under her thrall.
One Tough Dame: The Life and Career of Diana Rigg (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Herbie J Pilato
Herbie J Pilato is a talented writer who has a deep understanding of the entertainment business. Like me, you may know his work from RetroFan (hint, hint). I just like the way he writes and the way I learn new things from him.
His latest work is a biography of Diana Rigg . It is a fantastic read. It is quick, to the point, filled with “new” stories and insights and is very up to date. It includes the actress’s last role and her death in 2020.
Interestingly, Pilato divides the book into four parts: Before, During, After, and Forever After. While Rigg worked hard to define herself beyond, (and to contribute beyond) her role as Emma Peel in TV’s The Avengers, it’s hard not to argue that the majority of fans reading this book think of her foremost in that role.
Kudos to Pilato for finding new ways to tell the tale of the free-spirited actress. After spending over 200 pages with her, you feel as if you know her a bit better. I was spoiled as I knew more details from other books (see below) but I would say that Pilato’s book works quite well for fans who are deep into the subject. One Tough Dame is additive, rather than repetitive.
And there’s a lot more to like: a forward by Patrick Macnee’s son Rupert, gorgeous photographs (even the endpapers are striking) and a “Life and Career Selected Highlights” appendix.
One Tough Dame: The Life and Career of Diana Rigg (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Herbie J Pilato
• Publisher : University Press of Mississippi
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 256 pages
• ISBN-10 : 1496837975
Diana Rigg: The Biography
by Kathleen Tracy
A few weeks ago, an upstate New York comic store was having an outrageous sale of an impressive collection. This fan had recently passed and the widow asked the store to sell it all.
And there was a lot of The Avengers ( the UK TV Avengers, not Marvel’s Avengers) stuff for sale. I talked about it all in this recent column. One of the books I picked up and read was Diana Rigg: The Biography by Kathleen Tracy.
This 2004 book was very detailed. It was less about Rigg’s time on The Avengers, and more of an exploration of her long ranging career. I read it on a long plane ride and enjoyed it quite a bit.
Rigg had quite a few ups and downs in her career, but somehow she seemed to do pretty well as a young actress thrust into the spotlight on an international stage. If you want to learn everything you can about Diana Rigg’s life, this is the book for you.
Diana Rigg: The Biography
by Kathleen Tracy
• Publisher : BenBella Books (2004)
• Language : English
• Paperback : 288 pages
• ISBN-10 : 193210027X
En Garde #5
In that collection, there were several Avengers Fanzines, including En Garde #5. It’s crude by today’s standards – typewritten pages from a number of different writers, copied and stapled together today.
There are two sections of particular note:
“Will Success Spoil Mrs. Peel?” By Gary Crowdus
In this short article, the writer passionately argues how the first color season of the show betrayed all the basic tenets of the show. He makes the case that color episodes are bad for a series like this. He’s also not a fan of some of the new elements added into the show. It’s quite an eye opener for a fan to be so angry about something we take for granted.
“News and Notes”
The letters section is a deep dive into fans’ disappointment in the last season. Another actress replaced Diana Rigg in the series. It’s amazing how they have so little good to say about the replacement It’s clear what an impression Rigg has made on all these fans, akin to the fan adoration of Star Trek’s Spock or The Beatles.
Interested? The entire fanzine is available online here. There’s also copy on eBay for $125, although I’ll sell you my copy for $100 bucks.
