Dame Diana Rigg (1938 – 2020)

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Emeritus Fellow Dame Diana Rigg, who died yesterday aged 82.

Dame Diana was a renowned British actress, famous for her work on the stage and screen, who enjoyed a long and distinguished career.  Having trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959, she made her name in the 1961 TV series The Avengers, in which she played Emma Peel.

In 1990 she won a BAFTA for the role of an obsessive mother in the BBC drama Mother Love, and four years later she won a Tony for best actress for her leading role in Medea. More recently she starred in Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, and the current remake of All Creatures Great and Small.

Dame Diana became an Emeritus Fellow of St Catherine’s in 2000, having held the position of the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre in 1999. The visiting professorship was set up in 1990 by Cameron Mackintosh, with the aim of encouraging and promoting the study and practise of contemporary theatre at Oxford University.  The College is honoured to host the visiting professorship each year, and we were proud to have Dame Diana connected to the College in this way. Our thoughts are with her family at this time.