Quote of the Day (Diana Rigg, on ‘A Man Who Writes a Good Love Letter’)

“A man who writes a good love letter is a man who knows how to seduce with words.”— Diana Rigg, quoted in Alexis Soloski, “A Kiss, a Sigh ... and a Postage Stamp,” The New York Times, September 14, 2014

Listen, guys: Are you going to argue with the former Mrs. Peel about this (especially since, before the show closed prematurely, Rigg had been slated to star on Broadway in Love Letters)?

Didn’t think so!

TV Quote of the Day (‘The Avengers,’ on Diana Rigg, aka ‘Mrs. Peel’)

Z. Z. von Schnerk (played by Kenneth J. Warren), a whip-wielding, egomaniacal German film director with more than a passing resemblance to Erich von Stroheim, addressing spy Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg): “You are a woman of courage, beauty and of action. A woman who could become desperate yet remain strong, become confused yet remain intelligent, who could fight back yet remain feminine.”-- The Avengers: Season 5, Episode 11, “Epic,” air date April 14, 1967, teleplay by Brian Clemens, directed by James Hill

In the same episode of the sly and stylish British intelligence spoof of the 1960s from which the above quote comes, Emma Peel approaches another character: “I’ve come here to appeal to you, Mr. Kirby.”

“You certainly do that,” he responded. Millions of fans worldwide chuckled, and heartily agreed.

This has been quite a week for Diana Rigg. Not only did this grand Dame (an honor conferred by Queen Elizabeth nearly 20 years ago, sort of the equivalent of knighthood for men) celebrate her 75^th birthday today, but her fans also toasted her Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in her role as Lady Olenna Tyrell in the HBO series Game of Thrones—46 years after her first Emmy nod as Emma Peel. All in all, it’s a double occasion, requiring an additional post on Rigg besides the one I wrote last year.

Whatever else happens in this competition, Dame Diana has already achieved a triumph over the restrictions placed by age on actresses beyond the ingenue stage, not to mention the slings and arrows of outrageous critics. Prominent among the latter: New York Magazine’s jaundiced John Simon, who noted of her appearance (while in her thirties) in a play's nude scene that she was “built like a brick basilica with insufficient flying buttresses.”

Once she got over the shock of the criticism, Rigg put the drubbing to good use by compiling an anthology of the worst theatrical reviews, No Turn Unstoned. Others, however, were left to wonder what Simon might have been smoking to come out with a line like that in the first place.

Rigg, as Mrs. Peel, appealed abundantly to both sexes. Women saw in her an early symbol of empowerment, someone on an equal footing with partner John Steed. (She would not be one of those heroines forever in need of rescue from villains.) As for guys—well, they couldn’t get enough of her sinuous athletic wear, not to mention that iconic black leather wardrobe.

(The latter, as recounted in Robin Dougherty’s 1999 Salon article on Peel, was something of a happy accident.  The show’s designers called her wardrobe “fighting suits,” envisioning these for the very practical reason that they needed something that wouldn’t tear when she went into her exertions against assorted baddies. A happy byproduct was that Rigg looked great in them.)

Rigg’s work extends far beyond Emma Peel or Lady Olenna. James Bond fans will recall that she got 007 to the altar in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (and died for her trouble). Also onscreen, she had a terrific supporting role as a young woman who took up with suicidal, middle-aged hospital administrator George C. Scott in Paddy Chayefsky’s The Hospital. 

On TV, she won an Emmy for her role as Mrs. Danvers in a 1997 PBS adaptation of Rebecca, hosted Masterpiece Mystery from 1989 to 2004, and, back in the ‘70s, briefly had her own sitcom. Onstage, Simon notwithstanding, she produced especially terrific work, whether in Shakespeare (both virtuous Cordelia and villainous Regan in different productions of King Lear) or Sondheim (Follies).

Rigg need not take a back seat to her extraordinary contemporaries Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave. Intelligence and class always find a way.

TV Quote of the Day ('The Avengers,' With Typical Peel-Steed Banter)

Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg) (surveying an antique bed): “I've always rather fancied myself in one of these."

John Steed (played by Patrick Macnee): “So have I—I mean, I have, too."—The Avengers, Episode 83, “Too Many Christmas Trees,” U.K. airdate December 23, 1965, U.S. airdate August 11, 1966, written by Tony Williamson, directed by Roy Baker

When I Googled “The Avengers,” the overwhelming number of initial hits concerned a summer 2012 movie gathering together Marvel Comics superheroes. (Sigh): If Google forgets all about the tongue-in-cheek British spy-fi series of the same name, the technology that changed the world not only has no memory, but no conscience.

As a young boy in the mid-to-late Sixties, when The Avengers first aired stateside, innuendo-rich dialogue such as the above flew right over my head (or, if you prefer another cliché, under the radar). Ditto for those knowing smirks between oh-so-dashing Steed and “Mrs. Peel.”

(Question: Who was Mr. Peel? More to the point, where was he, when his wife went around saving Great Britain and Western civilization from the world’s oddest bunch of baddies—that is, when she wasn’t flirting like crazy with her bowler-attired male partner from the cryptically named “Ministry”?)

But one thing did make an impression on me: Emma Peel was not to be messed with. Steed, already middle aged, preferred foiling supervillains with his hat, umbrella, or some stratagem. Emma wasn’t averse to using her brain, but she was younger and far more athletic than Steed, who seemed positively delighted when she handled the rougher stuff.

That black-leather suit of hers radiated power from every pore, in a way it never did on Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl on Batman, the campy American show to which I gave allegiance during these years. Batgirl was a sideshow to the Dynamic Duo, a librarian out for a little fun in fighting bad guys under the nose of her crime-fighting Gotham dad.

In contrast, any guy who dared to do something stupid with Mrs. Peel risked dismemberment at her hands. And that was only one part of its quirky appeal. As noted by blogger Tansy Rayner Roberts: “the joy of the show is in the banter, the dialogue, the beautifully tailored clothes, and the odd not-quite-speculative-fiction crimes and mysteries to be solved.”

More than a decade later, I watched Diana Rigg in a TV special in which she played Regan, one of the two evil daughters to Laurence Olivier’s King Lear. So lasting—and glorious—was the impression she made from years before that I half expected her to karate-chop the poor, foolish monarch.

Oh, sharper than a serpent’s tooth, to be done in by the ex-Mrs. Peel! What a way to go!