Dame Diana Rigg believes in "red before bed"!

trinityTue 08/07/08 11:43

I was having a peek at The Telegraph's website this morning and found a lovely interview with Dame Diana Rigg. The former Avengers actress will be 70 this month...but she still drives a Mercedes sports car, smokes 20 a day and swears by a bottle of Merlot before bedtime.

Speaking to Nigel Farndale in an informal and candid interview at the Foxtrot Oscar restaurant, he asked her about Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard' (which she has just finished a run of it at Chichester). She said:

"Got a right old buffeting from the critics, but I loved it and we played to 74 per cent capacity, so up yours critics."


As their drinks order arrives (Rigg opting for a Bloody Mary), she asked for another slice of lemon and said:

"I don't normally drink at lunchtime. I'm not saying that defensively, I just don't. And in the evening I never drink before six, an old habit acquired from my father."

However that doesn't stop her from having "red before bed"...stating that a £3.99 bottle of Chilean Merlot gives you the best night's sleep in the world. She adds that it's like being hit over the head, and waking up 10 hours later feeling like a spring lamb. Gotta love this lady! :)


Despite describing herself as "hopelessly un-neurotic" (and thinks she might be a better actress if she were more neurotic)...she does have a sudden and explosive temper, and apparently the angrier she gets the more articulate she becomes. A prime example of this happened during that interview...when the waitress in the restaurant said:

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'd like to talk you through the specials on the menu."

"I think we can read," Rigg says. "Thank you so much."

"But they change each day," the waitress replies, staggering back slightly.

Rigg explained (after the waitress left) that she's no good at bottling up her feelings...but is good at saying sorry and she never sulks.


Speaking about the clips and memorabilia about her...she says:

"Oh yes, my daughter sends me YouTube clips. Not of me. Funny stuff. It all sounds like rubbish the stuff they have of me. It's a horrible thought that they are on there. I'm also a mouse pad and a screen-saver. Am I supposed to be flattered? All these old images of me floating across the screen, the terrible chasm of what you were and what you are. I know who I am, but these people who see me as I was then don't. There is always one thing that turns you into an icon, an iconic image, in my case a catsuit. But the icon 40 years later doesn't really want to know because it's not relevant to me. Some of those early photographs of me might as well be sepia. It's always thought that I disclaim television and am too theatre, but the truth is The Avengers bores me now. I was grateful because it catapulted me into stage stardom. It was good. I'm not ashamed of it. But I only did it for two years."


People still send her Avengers photos to sign, but she refuses, adding:

"I feel such a phony. That is not me. That is another person.

"Fame was different then. Nowadays people court fame, Big Brother-type fame; in those days we didn't know how to court fame. There weren't the channels to court fame, the publicists. I just hope the people getting their 15 minutes now are putting their money in the building society."


When asked if she thought whether fame was hollow, she shook her head and said:

"I'm not the best person to ask because, whatever form it has taken for me, it has always been attached to my career. I've always tried to avoid any vestige of it touching my private life. It has always been separate. I step into a character in my public life. People who don't make that distinction are doomed.

"There is still that small centre of me that has never been touched by fame, never photographed, written about or discussed. So when I sit next to a stranger at a dinner party and they feel they know something about me, I know they don't.'

She wished she had more fun with the fame thing, as she goes onto say:

"I should have handled it better. Had more fun. Not naughty fun. But just, you know. I sometimes think, when I look back on those days: why didn't I have more confidence? Why didn't I know I was pretty good-looking? It is probably to do with my Yorkshire upbringing. Always thinking that people might be saying, 'Who does she think she is?'


For the rest of the interview...check out the link below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/07/06/sv_dianarigg.xml&page=3


Ok..so I haven't met her. But she strikes me as a fantastic lady...and always will be.

rothcoupleTue 08/07/08 11:44

I must get some Merlot and increase the fags!

sheafferTue 08/07/08 11:45

wow trinny

ur quite a fan lol

longest posting I have ever read

.-)