In 1968, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Filmways co-produced a filmed version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. The play consists of four intersecting plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of “Duke Theseus of Athens” (Derek Godfrey) and the Amazon queen, “Hippolyta” (Barbara Jefford), which are set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.
The play opens with “Hermia” (Helen Mirrren) who is in love with “Lysander” (David Warner), being resistant to her father Egeus's demand that she wed “Demetrius” (Michael Jayston), whom he has arranged for her to marry. “Helena” (Diana Rigg), Hermia's best friend, pines unrequitedly for Demetrius, who broke up with her to be with Hermia.
David Warner and Diana Rigg in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
This was the theatrical movie debut of Diana Rigg. It was also the second filmed adaptation of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM in which she had appeared. In 1959, she played an unnamed bit part in a British television version of the play.
Peter Hall directed the film, which opened in theaters in Europe in September 1968. In the U.S., it was sold directly to television, and premiered as a Sunday evening special on CBS, on the night of 9 February 1969.
Diana Rigg made her feature film debut in America with THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU, an Edwardian comedy-thriller that Paramount produced in Europe. Rigg stars as English newswoman “Sonya Winter”, who sets out to expose Russian criminal “Ivan Dragomiloff” (Oliver Reed)’s globetrotting band of assassins by romancing him to infiltrate the gang.
In a bizarre twist, Sonya then pays Ivan a fortune to get his gang to kill him, and he willingly agrees — only to fob the job off onto his colleagues as a taunting excuse to murder them first. The film co-stars Telly Savalas, Curt Jurgens and Philippe Noiret.
Diana Rigg in THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU
The film was based upon Jack London’s last novel, which was finished after his 1916 death (after London had written 40,000 words) by Robert Fish and not published until 1963. The film sat for a few months following its completion. According to Diana Rigg, "the film company is stuck with the rather awkward - for America - title and hasn't made up its mind what to do." The film was released with its original title in March 1969, and disappeared at the box office.
Michael Flint of Paramount later said the film wound up costing a lot of money "because it was decided that it must be a locomotive", namely, a sort of film which "would really carry weight with exhibitors and eventually television networks buying batches of our films, by virtue of stars or production value." He added that in the case of THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU "we labored under the delusion that this could be ensured by spending more on 'production value'.” Basil Dearden directed the film, which has an unreleased score by Ron Grainer.
Sorry to hear this. Remember watching the Avengers on TV when I was a kid and I own the Diana Rigg Avengers DVD set. Also I saw Patrick Macnee on Broadway in Sleuth on a Saturday night when I was in high school in 1973. My friends and I waited at the stage door to get his autograph after the show. He was very nice, so sophisticated and so British. I can still smell the cologne. Won’t forget it.
In ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, “James Bond” (George Lazenby) faces “Blofeld” (Telly Savalas), who is planning to hold the world to ransom by a threat to render infertile all food plants and livestock, through the actions of a group of brainwashed "angels of death". Along the way, Bond meets, falls in love with, and eventually marries “Contessa Teresa ‘Tracy’ di Vicenzo” (Diana Rigg). Tracy was the daughter of “Marc-Ange Draco” (Gabriele Ferzetti), head of the Union Corse, a major crime syndicate.
George Lazenby and Diana Rigg in ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE
For Tracy Draco, the producers wanted an established actress opposite neophyte Lazenby. Brigitte Bardot was invited, but after she signed to appear in SHALAKO opposite Sean Connery, the deal fell through, and Diana Rigg—who had already been the popular heroine “Emma Peel” in “The Avengers”—was cast instead. Rigg said one of the reasons for accepting the role was that she always wanted to be in an epic film. She was also keen to play a role that didn't require her to hold a gun (though she actually does briefly in the movie).
The role was physically demanding. In the film, Tracy Draco was half throttled by a two hundred fifty pound Russian wrestler who's the villain's chief bodyguard, buried alive in freezing snow half way up the Swiss Alps for scenes in which she's trapped by an avalanche, knocked unconscious by a punch on the jaw during a battle, and half drowned walking into the cold Atlantic for scenes in which James Bond rescues her from suicide. The £700 jeweled dress Rigg wore in the beach scene was ruined by the sand and sea.
For the scene where Bond and Tracy crash into a car race while being pursued, an ice rink was constructed over an unused airplane runway, with water and snow sprayed on it constantly. Lazenby and Rigg did most of the driving due to the high number of close-ups involved. However, a double was used for Rigg skating at the ice rink, as the actress did not know how to skate.
Diana Rigg in ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE
Allegedly, there were personality conflicts between Lazenby and Rigg, who was already an established star. However, according to director Peter Hunt, these rumors are untrue and there were no such difficulties—or else they were minor—and may have started with Rigg joking to Lazenby before filming a love scene, "Hey George, I'm having garlic for lunch. I hope you are!" This led to an article in which Rigg supposedly hated Lazenby so much that "She eats garlic before love scenes".
George Lazenby shared one incident - "One time, we were on-location at an ice rink, and Diana and Peter [Hunt] were drinking champagne inside. Of course, I wasn't invited as Peter was there. I could see them through the window, but the crew were all outside stomping around on the ice, trying to keep warm. So, when she got in the car, I went for her. She couldn't drive the car properly, and I got into her about her drinking and things like that. Then she jumped out and started shouting 'he's attacking me in the car!' I called her a so-and-so for not considering the crew, who were freezing their butts off outside. And it wasn't that at all in the end, as she was sick that night, and I was at fault for getting into her about it. I think everyone gets upset at one time."
Hunt said his original intention had been to conclude ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE with Bond and Tracy driving off following their wedding, saving Tracy's murder for the pre-credit sequence of DIAMONDS ARE FORVEVER. The idea was discarded after Lazenby quit the role.
In his review of the film, Donald Zec in the Daily Mirror said that "there is style to Diana Rigg's performance, and I suspect that the last scene which draws something of a performance out of Lazenby owes much to her silken expertise."
ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE was the 12th most popular film in the U.S. in 1969, with a $22.7 million gross. John Barry’s score was released on a United Artists LP, which was re-issued on CD by EMI Manhattan in 1988. Capitol/EMI released an expanded version of the score in 2003.
Diana Rigg returned to filmed Shakespeare for the 1970 production of JULIUS CAESAR. Riggs played Portia, the wife of Brutus (Jason Robards). In his New York Times review, Howard Thompson wrote that “Diana Rigg and Richard Chamberlain, as Portia and Octavius Caesar, are briefly excellent in their quicksliver precision and feeling.”
Diana Rigg and Jason Robards in JULIUS CAESAR
Stuart Burge directed the film. Eleven minutes of the score by Michael J. Lewis were released on a Lewis compilation promo CD in 1994. Originally produced by Commonwealth United, the film remained unreleased for a period, after that company went bankrupt. The film was acquired by American International, given scant distribution, and took in less than $200,000 in the U.S.
THE HOSPITAL was a black comedy about the goings-on at chaotic "Manhattan Medical Center" where "Dr. Herbert Bock" (George C. Scott), the hospital’s chief of staff, is seemingly the only sane member on the staff. In one of the film’s main storylines, senior resident “Brubaker” (Robert Walden) informs Bock that “Edward Drummond” (Bernard Hughes), a Methodist missionary who lives with the Apaches in Mexico, has lapsed into a coma as a result of mistreatment by various staff members, and his daughter “Barbara” (Diana Rigg) has arrived to transport him back to Mexico.
George C. Scott and Diana Rigg in THE HOSPITAL
THE HOSPITAL marked Diana Rigg’s Hollywood film debut. Her English accent is explained in this New York City-set movie's storyline as being attributed to her being a Vassar College graduate.
Although Michael Ritchie was originally set to direct the 1971 film, on 30 March 1970 Daily Variety announced that he was leaving the production due to "differences" and that Arthur Hiller had been hired to take over directing, in a deal that guaranteed him a percentage of the profits.
THE HOSPITAL was the 12th most popular film at the U.S. box office, with a gross of $27.3 million. Diana Rigg received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, losing to Ann-Margret for CARNAL KNOWLEDGE. THE HOSPITAL’s score, by Morris Surdin, has not had a release.
In the London-filmed THEATRE OF BLOOD, Shakespearean actor “Edward Lionheart” (Vincent Price) takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition. In this, he is assisted by his beautiful daughter “Edwina Lionheart” (Diana Rigg). The film allowed Price, a Shakespeare devotee, is best film opportunity to play the Bard’s roles on screen. The murders of the critics in THEATRE OF BLOOD each correspond to murders in plays by Shakespeare, allowing Price to spout lines of dialogue from “Julius Caesar,” “Troilus and Cressida,” “Cymbeline,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Richard III,” “Othello,” “Henry VI,” and “Titus Androicus.”
Ian Hendry and Diana Rigg in THEATRE OF BLOOD
Diana Rigg regarded this as her best movie. When the film was adapted for the London stage in 2005, Diana Rigg's role was filled by her real-life daughter, Rachael Stirling. Vincent Price was introduced to his future wife Coral Browne by Diana Rigg during the making of the film. Rigg was ignorant of the fact that Price was married at the time.
Douglas Hickox directed the 1973 release. Michael J. Lewis’s score first appeared on a composer promo disc, before La-La Land released a commercial version in 2010. THEATRE OF BLOOD took in just $3 million at the U.S. box office.
On the strength of her recent film appearances, and the lingering favorable memory of her stint on “The Avengers,” Diana Rigg was offered her own U.S. television series. “Diana” was a sitcom that was created by Leonard B. Stern (“Get Smart”). The series was filmed in front of a live studio audience at CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles.
Rigg played “Diana Smythe,” a recently divorced British fashion designer who moves to the States in the hopes of becoming more noticed in the fashion world by relocating to New York City. As the series begins, she has landed a high-profile job as a fashion coordinator at Buckley's Department Store. Since her city-dwelling brother is out of the country indefinitely she moves into his apartment, which to her bemusement becomes the site of many unannounced visits by her brother’s numerous girlfriends.
Each episode finds Diana trying to adjust to American life with help from her next-door neighbor “Holly Green” (Carole Androsky), copywriter “Howard Tollbrook” (Richard B. Shull), window decorator “Marshall Tyler” (Robert Moore) and new pal “Jeff Harmon” (Richard Mulligan), while dealing with her boss “Norman Brodnik” (David Sheiner) and his wife “Norma” (Barbara Barrie).
Diana Rigg in “Diana”
Hoping to find the success of such shows as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” NBC premiered “Diana” on Monday, 10 September 1973, at 8:30 PM. The show was seen as counter-programming to its competition on ABC (“The Rookies”) and CBS (“Gunsmoke”). But “Diana” was done no favors by its lead-in half-hour sitcom, Dom DeLuise’s “Lotsa Luck,” and “Diana” could not recover the audience lost by that show, which went against the first half-hours of the competing shows. “The Rookies” finished as the #25 show for the season, “Gunsmoke” finished in the #15 slot, and “Diana” was cancelled at mid-season after 15 episodes.
"Diana" was notable for a guest shot by Patrick MacNee as an old boyfriend of hers. The episode was loaded with "Avengers" inside jokes including her being left a "Diana Smythe, You're Needed!" card.
IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE was based on a 1969 novel by Rumer Godden. It was a portrait of religious life in England that centered on “Philippa Talbot” (Diana Rigg), a highly successful professional woman who leaves her comfortable life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community of contemplative nuns. It begins in 1954, as Philippa enters the monastery, Brede Abbey; continues through her solemn vows in the changing, post-Second Vatican Council environment; and ends as Philippa reluctantly accepts the call to lead a new Benedictine foundation in Japan, where she spent part of her childhood.
George Schaefer directed the made-for-television film, which aired on CBS on 27 February 1975. Diana Rigg was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy. She lost to Katharine Hepburn for LOVE AMONG THE RUINS. The film’s score, by Peter Matz, has not had a release.
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC was the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s stage musical, which had opened at the Shubert Theater in New York City on February 23, 1973 and ran for 601 performances. The musical is based on Ingmar Bergman’s SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT.
In the film, “Frederick Egerman” (Len Cariou) is very happy in his marriage to “Anne” (Lesley-Anne Down), an 18-year-old virgin. However, Anne nervously has protected her virginity for the whole 11 months of marriage, and being a bit restless, Frederick goes to see an old flame: the famous actress “Desirée Armfeldt” (Elizabeth Taylor).
Desirée, who is getting tired of her career, is thinking of settling down, and sets her sights on Frederick, despite his marriage, and her own married lover “Count Carl-Magnus Mittelheim” (Laurence Guittard). She gets her mother to invite the Egermans to her country estate for the weekend. But when Carl-Magnus and his wife, “Charlotte” (Diana Rigg), appear too, things begin to get farcical, and the night must smile for the third time before all the lovers are properly united.
Adapting the stage show to screen resulted in several changes. At least four songs were deleted. Two songs, "The Glamorous Life" and "Night Waltz", were entirely re-written by Sondheim and re-interpreted. The Greek-chorus singing quintet was removed, and the setting moved from Sweden to Austria.
Diana Rigg and Lesley-Anne Down in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
Diana Rigg, who did her own singing, performed on two songs: “Every Day A Little Death” (with Lesley-Anne Down) and “A Weekend in the Country” (with Lesley Dunlop, Lesley-Anne Down, Len Cariou, Laurence Guittard, Christopher Guard and Hermione Gingold).
Movie critic Stephen Farber listed the film on his top ten movies of 1977 and wrote "Academy members should be required to see Diana Rigg's entrancing performance before they are allowed to vote for the best supporting actress." Rigg did not receive a nomination, however.
Jonathan Tunick won an Oscar for Best Adaptation Score. The film’s soundtrack was released on a Columbia LP, an expanded version of which was made available on CD-R by Masterworks Broadway in 2013. The film greatly underperformed at the U.S. box office, with a $2.6 million gross.
In THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER, “Miss Piggy” (Frank Oz) has been framed as a jewel thief by the brother (Charles Grodin) of a famous fashion designer, “Lady Holiday” (Diana Rigg). “Kermit the Frog” (Jim Henson) and “Fozzie Bear” (Frank Oz) are intrepid reporters fired from their job for failing to notice a jewel heist going on right under their noses. They head off to England to interview the victim, Lady Holiday. Their travel budget is so small that they don’t so much land in Britain as they are cargo-dropped from a plane on its way to Italy. Their accommodations, the “Happiness Hotel”, are so run down that “sneaking out in the middle of the night” is the most popular payment option. It is also the “in” place for Muppets to stay when in London, because this is where they find all of their fellow foam and felt-covered compadres.
Diana Rigg and Charles Grodin in THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER
THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER marked the feature film directorial debut for Muppet creator and performer, Jim Henson. The 1981 film’s score and songs, by Joe Raposo, were released on an Atlantic Records LP, which was re-issued on CD by Jim Henson Records in 1993.
The film’s original budget was $14 million, but it ballooned to $20 million by the end of production. Although not as profitable as the original MUPPET MOVIE, the film still ranked among the top 25 films of the year in the U.S., grossing more than $32 million.
...Night Music was one of the movies I watched when HBO was born. Also remember Joseph Andrews as one of the firsts, too. Anyway, was barely familiar with the famous stage version and enjoyed it on its filmic own. She really was good. I clearly recall how subtle and funny she played the part. Sang better than Vanessa in YouKnowWhat for whatever it's worth. Got the LP.
Guy Hamilton directed the Agatha Christie adaptation EVIL UNDER THE SUN. The 1982 film relocated the setting from the novel's Smuggler's Island off England's Devonshire Coast to an island in the Adriatic Sea "somewhere west of Suez", a setting played by the exotic Spanish island location of Majorca. The film's screenwriter Anthony Shaffer said of this: "The location is important. The island should be a star. Just as the Nile steamer [in DEATH ON THE NILE (1978)] and the Orient Express [in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974)] were stars." As it happened, Majorca was at the time the home of Guy Hamilton.
The film finds Christie’s famed Belgian detective, “Hercule Poirot” (Sir Peter Ustinov), called in to investigate a case for an insurance company regarding a dead woman's body found on a moor. When an important diamond sent to the company to be insured, turns out to be a fake, Poirot discovers that the diamond was bought for “Arlena Marshall” (Diana Rigg) by “Sir Horace Blatt” (Colin Blakely). Since Arlena is on her honeymoon with her husband and stepdaughter on a tropical island hotel, Poirot joins them on the island and finds that everybody else starts to hate Arlena for different reasons: refusing to do a stage show, stopping a book, and for having an open affair with “Patrick Redfern” (Nicholas Clay), another guest, in full view of his shy wife (Jane Birkin). So, it's only a matter of time before Arlena turns up dead, strangled, and Poirot must find out who did it.
Diana Rigg and Denis Quilley in EVIL UNDER THE SUN
Diana Rigg was cast as what she called "the archetypal actress bitch." The film's score consisted of Cole Porter tunes, newly arranged and conducted by John Lanchberry. At the time of the film's release, RCA issued an LP of Porter selections drawn from their back catalog of big band tunes. The actual Larchberry arrangements were not released until DRG issued them on CD in 1994.
Diana Rigg’s next film was also an Agatha Christie adaptation—this time for television. WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION concerns “Sir Wilfred Robarts” (Ralph Richardson), a famed barrister, who has just been released from the hospital in which he stayed for two months following a heart attack. Returning to his practice of law, he takes the case of “Leonard Vole” (Beau Bridges), an unemployed man who is accused of murdering his elderly friend, Mrs. Emily French. Vole claims he's innocent, although all evidence points to him as the killer, but his alibi witness, his cold German wife “Christine” (Rigg), instead of entering the court as a witness for the defense, becomes the witness for the prosecution and defiantly testifies that her husband is guilty of the murder.
Diana Rigg in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
Unlike Billy Wilder’s 1957 film, which was closer to Christie’s 1953 play, this TV version stays more faithful to Christie’s original 1925 short story. The film was directed by Alan Gibson and scored by John Cameron. It aired on CBS on 4 December 1982.
Laurence Olivier starred in the 1983 Granada Television production of KING LEAR. Olivier was Lear, King of Britain, and his three daughters were played by Anna Calder-Marshall (“Cordelia”), Dorothy Tutin (“Goneril”), and Diana Rigg (“Regan”). Jeremy Kemp played Regan’s husband, the “Duke of Cornwall.” Faye Dunaway had turned down the role of Regan, so she could star in THE WICKED LADY (1983).
Dorothy Tutin and Diana Rigg in KING LEAR
According to Diana Rigg, Sir Laurence Olivier wanted to perform all of the long speeches in single takes, as he had done in the theater decades ago, without multiple takes and pick-ups being edited together. However, due to his age, he could never get through any speech without faltering. In 2016, Rigg admitted to having never watched this film because she felt so saddened that Olivier had not been able to achieve this ambition. This was Olivier's final Shakespearean role before his death on July 11, 1989 at the age of 82, and he won an Emmy for his performance, as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special.
Michael Elliott directed the film, which was scored by Gordon Crosse. Unusual even for its time, the play had its American television premiere by being syndicated on commercial television rather than appearing on public television. It was presented as part of the Mobil Showcase Theatre.
