Diana Rigg — How ‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Beat Death In 2017

Diana Rigg became a TV icon as kick-ass leather-clad spy Emma Peel, but The National ENQUIRER has learned "The Avengers" beauty had her fiercest fight yet — when her heart stopped on the operating table!

Late in 2017, the 79-year-old awoke from cardiac ablation surgery to have the nurse say, “You might find a bit of a burn mark on your chest.” Rigg told a U.K. interviewer, “That’s where they jump-started me.”

The actress, whose athletic judo moves made her a hit on the ’60s action series, quips, “My heart had stopped ticking during the procedure, so I was up there and the Good Lord must have said, ‘Send the old bag down again, I’m not having her yet.’”

Cardiac ablation is a procedure to destroy tissue in the heart that sends off incorrect electrical signals and causes an abnormal heartbeat — but Rigg nearly didn’t make it through the life-saving surgery!

Diana, who married James Bond in 1969’s "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service" (shown here with then-Bond George Lazenby), insists she’s “fine now.” But she admits her health complications convinced her to stop smoking — but not acting!

Having won over a new generation of fans as outspoken Olenna Tyrell during five seasons of "Game of Thrones," the veteran actress joined the regal drama "Victoria" as the icy Duchess of Buccleuch, beginning with the second season currently airing on PBS's "Masterpiece."

But the role Rigg now relishes the most is grandmother. In April 2017, her daughter, actress Rachael Stirling (left), and son-in-law Guy Garvey welcomed a boy, Jack. “I intend to be a fun granny,” Rigg assured.