Tributes are being paid to the British actress Diana Rigg, who has died aged 82.

In a career spanning six decades, Rigg lit up both stage and screen, proving herself as adept at Shakespearean comedy as she was at gritty realism.

She was perhaps best known in the UK as the spy Emma Peel in The Avengers, the 1960s TV series that transformed her into a household name and a global style icon.

The spy genre would serve Rigg well, generating another of her iconic roles as Bond girl Tracy di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Rigg's technical range and indeed the length of her career were remarkable. She thrilled and terrified children in the 1980s as Miss Constance Hardbroom in The Worst Witch and captured the world's imagination as Olenna Tyrell in the global hit TV series Game of Thrones – from which she will be remembered by its legions of fans for delivering one of the show's most chilling lines: "Tell Cersei… I want her to know it was me."

In her private life, Rigg was outspoken, with her views sometimes causing controversy, such as those on the role of women in society – she walked out of The Avengers in 1967, after two seasons, because she was paid less than a cameraman.

She once said: "I hope there's a tinge of disgrace about me. Hopefully, there's one good scandal left in me yet."

Despite this, she was embraced by the British establishment and in 1994, she was made a dame for her services to drama.

She continued to be in high demand as an actress into her 80s – she was appearing in the current prime time British TV show All Creatures Great and Small.

Tributes have been paid across her industry.

The British Film Institute (BFI) tweeted: "We're sad to hear the news that actress Dame Diana Rigg has passed away at the age of 82. She enjoyed a long and distinguished acting career in British film and TV with roles in The Avengers, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Game of Thrones."

While the Game of Thrones Twitter account simply wrote: "Be a dragon. The realm will always remember Diana Rigg."