Diana Rigg with correspondent Anthony Mason at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rigg, a Tony Award-winner, has returned to Broadway in a Lincoln Center revival of the Lerner & Loewe musical "My Fair Lady." 

Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1938, and acting was the only career she ever really wanted.

She would earn admission to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Diana Rigg, photographed at her parents' home in Roundhay, Leeds, April 19, 1965. That year Rigg shocked her Shakespearean colleagues by leaving the stage– for a TV show. She said she was "despised" for doing so.

CBS News' Anthony Mason asked her, "So why did you do it?"

"I knew I had to broaden myself. I was young."

That show was "The Avengers," the British spy series starring Patrick Macnee as agent John Steed. Joining him was new cast member Diana Rigg as "talented amateur" Mrs. Emma Peel.

Diana Rigg became an international sensation as Mrs. Emma Peel in "The Avengers."

"Why do you think Mrs. Peel was embraced the way she was?"  Anthony Mason asked.

"Because she was ahead of her time," Rigg replied. "Because she was highly intelligent, capable, witty, sexy, independent."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"I loved it," she replied. 

Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Pel in "The Avengers."

Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) goes undercover at the Hellfire Club in the "Avengers" episode "A Touch of Brimstone."

For the fifth season of "The Avengers," in 1967, the production switched to color. 

Rigg said that she was not all that comfortable with being a sex symbol. "Because how is a sex symbol supposed to behave? I haven't got a clue!" she laughed.

Diana Rigg starred as Mrs. Emma Peel for two seasons in "The Avengers."

Actress Diana Rigg.

Acress Diana Rigg.

After two seasons, Rigg left "The Avengers," and took on the role of Bond Girl Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

Diana Rigg appeared in the 1982 musical production "Colette" (by "Fantasticks" creators Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones), about the life of French author of "Gigi," which closed before coming to Broadway. 

Diana Rigg in costume for the play "Abelard and Heloise" (1971).

When asked of her job on stage (which in the case of this play about 12th century lovers involved some on-stage nudity), Rigg said, "Your job then is to be truthful [to the audience]. Don't betray them. Don't cheat them. Don't be cheap."

Diana Rigg in the Agatha Christie murder mystery "Evil Under the Sun" (1982). It was one of her few major movie roles. 

Rigg told Mason she wishes her film career had been "a little better, a little fuller."

"Did you not get offered the parts you wanted?" he asked.

"I didn't get offered. There is a curious snobbery about television and moving into film."

Diana Rigg won the Best Actress Tony Award for her performance in the 1994 production of the Greek tragedy "Medea." 

Diana Rigg served as host of the PBS anthology series "Masterpiece: Mystery!"

Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister in the HBO series "Game of Thrones."

Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell in the HBO series "Game of Thrones."

Diane Rigg has received a Tony Awrad nomination for her performance in the Lincoln Center revival of the Lerner & Loewe musical "My Fair Lady." She plays Mrs. Higgins, mother of Professor Henry Higgins. 

Mason asked her, "Do awards mean anything to you?"

"Of course they do, and anybody who says they don't is talking rubbish!"

     
For more info:
"My Fair Lady" at the Lincoln Center Theater, New York City | Ticket information
"The Avengers: Season 4" and "Season 5" available on Blu-Ray/DVD
"The Avengers" Forever (Fan site)
"The Avengers" International Fan Forum