As Game of Thrones returns for its final series, Dame Diana Rigg A.K.A Olenna Tyrell – looks back on her time with the hit HBO show. here Are amazing facts about Dame Diana Rigg.
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is best known for playing Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers, Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones
She has never watched the series
Ollena Tyrell may have had many of the best lines on Game of Thrones, but Dame Diana Rigg says she has not watched the series “before or since” she appeared in it.
Accepting a special award at this year’s Canneseries TV festival in France, the British actress said she “hadn’t got a clue” about what was happening on the show.
Olenna left at the end of the last series by drinking poison – a death scene she said was “just wonderful”.
She will hit 81 years in 3 months
“She does it with dignity and wit, and
She became famous 5 decades ago
The young Rigg became famous in the 1960s for playing Emma Peel in TV series The Avengers. Getting offered Tyrell in 2013, she says, echoed the circumstances of her first starring role.
“They just called my agent,” she explains. “The world turns full circle, because just like with The Avengers, I wasn’t watching Game of Thrones and had absolutely no idea of its influence in the world.
“It was a job, they sent me a script, and I thought ‘I can do this.’
Her photographic Memory
Rigg can really remember scenes dating back to 1960s,
“Interestingly enough, they tested me very early on,” the actress recalls. “One of my earliest scenes was incredibly difficult, listing all the things my marching army would need.
“It went on forever, talking about the sheep and the cows and the soldiers. I read that and thought, ‘these guys are testing an old actress to see if she can get it into her head.’
“I thought, ‘I’m going to do it in one take.’ And I did.”
Rigg is also known for playing Tracy, the only woman who became Mrs. James Bond, in 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
She thrives in being a bad character/ disliked Character
Given the choice, though, she’d choose Olenna every time. “I love playing bad [characters],” she says. “They are so much more interesting than good.
“There are some actors who don’t like to play bad; they like to be liked. I love to be disliked. Olenna had the best lines, they were very kind with their scripts.”
For all her many credits, though, she does not tend to watch herself on screen. “Been there, done that, all of it,” she says.
“Dredging up the past is not my style. I prefer to move on.”
Game of Thrones season 8 starts on 15 April .