Baby It's Cold Outside!!

[unclefester]

I've always felt that the shows producers were shortsighted when it came to making Diana Rigg comfortable on set.

I mentioned in an earlier posting I could think of no good reason to have Dame Diana enter the water under the bridge & then fight the suitcase recipient. That entire scene should have been entirely handled by a double IMO

Or how about in EPIC when she and Steed are waiting on Fitzroy Lane for the arrival of the mystery caller? Steed is dressed in his usual bowler plus top coat and gloves. Emma looks like she's wearing nothing near as warm and certainly no gloves.

Her body language tells you everything you need to know. A cool wind blows her hair (it was shot in February) & her arms crossed. That's a clear indicator of discomfort to me. In another outdoor scene from EPIC you can clearly see her breath!!

So a warm top coat and gloves for one and nothing even remotely of the sort for the other. She looks cold to me! Disrespectful towards Diana?

[unclefester]

In this scene from EPIC if you look closely you can see Diana's breath in the left chest area of the police officer. That "smudge" is her exhale on a chilly day.

Not suggesting she should be wearing an arctic outfit but I do think she was not given the same clothing options as Patrick in a number of scenes

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[Frankymole]

She also had "the life of a mole" in near-permanent darkness when not working, shuttled to and from the studio at insanely early hours, and working in the theatre after filming... such is the life of an actor!

Apart from that I think the only thing Diana complained about was the poor wages, being paid less than the cameraman.

I don't recall if she got injured during shooting, like Linda Thorson and Cathy Gale did sometimes. But she probably did.

But what a body of work she produced in harsh conditions, not just on The Avengers but in her whole working life. An amazing professional. A true trouper. I would not even be surprised to learn she volunteered to do things like the fight in the water, just to make it look more authentic. But I know it was hard to stand up to the producers, and Patrick didn't feel he did enough to help his co-stars, at least earlier on.

[unclefester]

Well said Franky

It's possible that I'm seeing things that aren't there but like you said the confirmation of the double standard comes from Patrick himself.

Patrick lamenting the shows brass were often chauvinistic towards Diana when it came to many things including I believe he said her period. Harsh words indeed.

But for those of us who were a part of that generation it was a different time. Not be be excused but things were different.

It is unfortunate that Diana chose not to write an autobiography at the end because that would have been enlightening for the fans. But I think because of the share of heartbreak she endured in her life with failed marriages & more, a book wasn't in the cards.