Siân Phillips

Siân Phillips

Birthdate
May 14, 1933 (91 years old)
Place of Birth
Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales
Known For
Acting

Details

Birthdate
May 14, 1933 (91 years old)
Place of Birth
Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales
Known For
Acting

Biography

Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips DBE (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips, is a Welsh actress, author and singer.

Phillips was the daughter of Sally (née Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman. She is a Welsh-speaker and in the first volume of her autobiography, "Private Faces", she notes that she spoke only Welsh for much of her childhood, learning English by listening to the radio.

She attended Pontardawe Grammar School and later read English and Philosophy at University College Cardiff, graduating in 1955. She entered RADA in LOndon, England with a scholarship in September 1955, the same year as Diana Rigg and Glenda Jackson. She went on to win the prestigious Bancroft Gold Medal for Hedda Gabler and was offered work in Hollywood when she left RADA. While still a student she was offered three film contracts, entailing her to work for an extended period of time in the United States; but she declined, preferring to work on stage instead.

Siân Phillips's LGBTQ+ Titles

Summerland
Summerland
Margaret Corey

Acting (100)

2024
Emperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty as Narrator (3 episodes)
2024
Apple Cider Vinegar as Voice
2024
Doctor Who as Enid Meadows (1 episode)
2023
Siân Phillips at 90 as Self
2022
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
2022
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends as Self
2022
The Chelsea Detective as Grandma Dix (1 episode)
2021
Wonders of the Celtic Deep as Self - Narrator (4 episodes)
2021
A Year in the Beacons as Narrator (4 episodes)
2021
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood as Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon
2021
Dream Horse as Maureen
2020
A Christmas Carol as Grandmother / narrator (voice)
2020
Summerland as Margaret Corey
2020
McDonald & Dodds as Agnes Gillian (1 episode)
2019
National Theatre Live: Les Blancs as Madame Neilsen
2019
Time & Again as Eleanor
2019
Be Happy!
2019
Good Omens as Mr. Henderson (1 episode)
2018
Nureyev as Narrator
2018
To Provide All People as Patient
2018
Miss Dalí as Anna Maria Dalí
2018
Voyageuse as Erica
2017
Hochelaga, Land of Souls as Sarah Walker
2016
Aberfan: The Green Hollow
2014
Under Milk Wood as Mrs. Pugh
2012
A Picture of London as Narrator
2012
Lovesong as Maggie
2011
The Mountain That Had To Be Painted as Narrator
2007
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas as Self
2004
The Murder Room as Marie Strickland
2003
Still: Here/Now as Self
2003
The Last Detective as Vera Dulciman (1 episode)
2003
Stalin: Inside the Terror as Narrator
2002
I, Claudius: A Television Epic as Self
2001
Attila as Grandmother (2 episodes)
2000
Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime as Evil Baroness
2000
Come and Go as Ru
1999
The Magician's House as Meg Lewis (12 episodes)
1999
Aristocrats as Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox
1998
Alice Through the Looking Glass as Red Queen
1998
The Scold's Bridle as Mathilda (1 episode)
1998
The Scold's Bridle as Mathilda Gillespie
1997
Arthouse as Self - Commentary (1 episode)
1997
Midsomer Murders as Lady Annabel Butler (1 episode)
1997
La Femme Nikita as Adrian (5 episodes)
1997
Ivanhoe as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (6 episodes)
1997
House of America as Mam
1996
Silent Witness as Beattie Elletson (1 episode)
1995
The Mousehole Cat as Narrator
1995
The Vacillations of Poppy Carew as Calypso
1993
The Return of the Borrowers as Mrs. Driver (5 episodes)
1993
The Age of Innocence as Mrs. Archer
1993
Heidi as Frau Sesemann (2 episodes)
1991
The Chestnut Soldier as Nain Griffiths
1991
The Black Candle as Daisy Barnett
1990
Emlyn's Moon as Nain Griffiths
1990
Perfect Scoundrels as Mother Aloysius (1 episode)
1990
Red Empire as Narrator (voice)
1990
Dark River as Mrs. Blessington
1989
Valmont as Madame de Volanges
1989
Shadow of the Noose as Lady Scott (1 episode)
1989
Agatha Christie's Poirot as Mrs. Laura Upward (1 episode)
1989
David Macaulay: Pyramid as Mersyankh (voice)
1988
The Snow Spider as Nain Griffiths
1987
Vanity Fair as Miss Matilda Crawley (3 episodes)
1987
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles as Duchess of Windsor (2 episodes)
1985
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor as Charal
1985
The Doctor and the Devils as Annabella Rock
1984
Dune as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
1982
Smiley's People (1 episode)
1982
How Many Miles to Babylon? as Mrs Alicia Moore
1981
Clash of the Titans as Cassiopeia
1980
Carpathian Eagle as Mrs. Henska
1980
Hammer House of Horror as Mrs. Henska (1 episode)
1980
Nijinsky as Lady Ripon
1979
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as Ann Smiley (7 episodes)
1979
Crime and Punishment as Katerina Ivanovna (3 episodes)
1979
Tales of the Unexpected as Hermione (1 episode)
1978
Warrior Queen as Queen Boudicca (6 episodes)
1977
Heartbreak House as Hesione Hushabye
1977
The Achurch Letters as Janet Achurch
1976
I, Claudius as Livia (1 episode)
1976
I, Claudius as Livia Drusilla (12 episodes)
1975
How Green Was My Valley as Beth Morgan (6 episodes)
1974
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill as Mrs. Patrick Campbell
1974
Shoulder to Shoulder as Emmeline Pankhurst (6 episodes)
1972
Under Milk Wood as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
1971
Platonov as Anna
1971
Murphy's War as Hayden
1969
Goodbye, Mr. Chips as Ursula Mossbank
1969
Laughter in the Dark as Lady Pamela More
1968
Thief as Woman
1968
It’s Dearer After Midnight as Jo
1966
Eh, Joe? as Voice
1965
Young Cassidy as Ella
1964
Becket as Gwendolen
1962
Don Juan in Hell as Dona Ana
1962
The Longest Day as WRNS Officer (uncredited)
1956
Tony Awards as Self - Nominee (1 episode)
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame as Lady Lavery (1 episode)

Writing (1)

2021
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood • Writer
• Writer