Remembering Dame Diana Rigg on the Anniversary of her birth

By: Steven Jay Rubin

Published:
2021-07-20

Diana Rigg Tracy On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia presents This Day in James Bond Movie History - remembering the late Diana Rigg on the anniversary of her birth in 1938.

To say that Diana Rigg made an impact when she debuted on American television as Mrs. Peel in The Avengers TV series in the 1960s would be a great understatement. Not only was she beautiful, athletic and glib, but she was unlike any other woman we had seen in popular media. It’s no wonder that producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, looking to bolster George Lazenby’s first James Bond movie, cast her as Contessa Teresa “Tracy” di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), just about the most perfect casting in the entire series.

Rigg was nothing short of fabulous, first as the sullen beauty ready to drown herself on a Portuguese beach, then as the willing lover who pays James Bond back by sleeping with him; and finally as an incredibly romantic figure who follows 007 to Switzerland, only to be captured by Blofeld (a terrific Telly Savalas).

My favorite scene: When she skates up to Bond in Murren and offers her help while he’s being chased by the SPECTRE baddies. Of course, it is Tracy to whom 007 proposes – making Diana Rigg's Tracy the only woman to ever officially marry James Bond.

Although she made movies, Rigg is mostly known for her TV work, more recently in the epic Game of Thrones series.

So let’s hoist a tall one to one legendary woman who fit perfectly on screens big and small. We will remember you forever.

All text. Copyright © 2021 Steven Jay Rubin. All rights reserved.

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Remembering Dame Diana Rigg on the Anniversary of her birth

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