Diana Rigg

“I was very, very young, living in India. I'd been put to bed in the afternoon, and I had that lovely feeling you have when you're about to nod off. I remember the yellow curtains of the room blowing in the wind and feeling blissfully happy and content.”

“If you're earning equal pay to a man, you get respect. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.”

“I'm so lucky. I could be sitting at home crumbling, but I'm not.”

“Most of the women in Greek tragedies have their fates predetermined. The gods dictate that such and such will happen to them, and everything they predict comes true. Not Medea.”

“George Lazenby was ill-equipped. It's not for nothing that they didn't offer him any sequels.”

“I get tetchy with myself when I forget. I also get tetchy when directors ask you for take after take after take after take for no apparent reason. I've heard Maggie Smith gets tetchy for the same reason.”

“An awful lot of actors shy away from the uglier aspects of the human condition. They want to be liked, which is a cop-out. You've got to go for it.”

“I loved the idea of playing this naughty old bag, offering her own explanation. It's my idea of heaven.”

“I think you have to know someone to truly dislike them, don't you? That said, I'd shove most politicians into a cauldron and boil them up.”

“Do you know, I have no idea how I got 'The Avengers'? I'd left the Royal Shakespeare Company, and I was one of a long list of girls, and got it on my audition.”

“You hand the baton on, and that's why roles like 'Medea' resonate for years and years, as each new actor comes to it.”

“I don't mind getting old except for the pain. I have two new knees, so going downstairs is not perfect. Nobody tells you about the pain.”

“I confess I do a lot of the wrong things: I smoke, and I drink wine, and people might be horrified at my eating habits - I eat when I'm hungry, and if I'm not, I don't.”

“When my marriage broke up, I went to three separate therapists, and each was worse than the last. I can only speak for myself. There are other people it's been incredibly useful for, but not me.”

“You can't actually legislate what goes on in people's minds and their attitudes, but you certainly can legislate for parity where pay and salaries are concerned.”

“I'm really grateful for 'Game of Thrones'. It's something wonderful to happen to an actress of my age, and Dubrovnik is astonishingly beautiful.”

“The first time Rachie and I will be working together is on an episode of 'Doctor Who' specially written for us by Mark Gatiss. How lucky is that?”

“The older you get, I have to say, the funnier you find life. That's the only way to go.”

“I've played the Greek classics; I've played the English classics. I promise you, I'm not complacent, because I hope to be playing all sorts of stuff that I've never played before while the mind - and the body - still functions.”

“Yes, well, you are quite camp, so I guess that he could see the point of you.”