Siân Phillips
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1933-05-14 (91 years old)
Place of Birth
Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales
Siân Phillips
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.
Known For
Acting
(2024)
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
as self
(2024)
Apple Cider Vinegar
as Voice
(2023)
Siân Phillips at 90
as Self
(2022)
(2022)
(2021)
Dream Horse
as Maureen
(2021)
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood
as Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon
(2020)
Summerland
as Margaret Corey
(2020)
A Christmas Carol
as Grandmother / narrator (voice)
(2019)
National Theatre Live: Les Blancs
as Madame Neilsen
(2019)
(2019)
Time & Again
as Eleanor
(2018)
Nureyev
as Narrator
(2018)
Miss Dalí
as Anna Maria Dalí
(2018)
To Provide All People
as Patient
(2018)
Voyageuse
as Erica
(2017)
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
as Sarah Walker
(2016)
(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)
(2004)
The Murder Room
as Marie Strickland
(2003)
Still: Here/Now
as Self
(2003)
Stalin: Inside the Terror
as Narrator
(2002)
(2000)
Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime
as Evil Baroness
(2000)
Come and Go
as Ru
(1999)
Aristocrats
as Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox
(1998)
Alice Through the Looking Glass
as Red Queen
(1998)
The Scold's Bridle
as Mathilda Gillespie
(1997)
House of America
as Mam
(1995)
The Vacillations of Poppy Carew
as Calypso
(1995)
The Mousehole Cat
as Narrator
(1993)
The Age of Innocence
as Mrs. Archer
(1991)
The Black Candle
as Daisy Barnett
(1991)
The Chestnut Soldier
as Nain Griffiths
(1990)
Emlyn's Moon
as Nain Griffiths
(1990)
Dark River
as Mrs. Blessington
(1990)
Red Empire
as Narrator (voice)
(1989)
Valmont
as Madame de Volanges
(1989)
David Macaulay: Pyramid
as Mersyankh (voice)
(1988)
The Snow Spider
as Nain Griffiths
(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)
How Many Miles to Babylon?
as Mrs Alicia Moore
(1981)
Clash of the Titans
as Cassiopeia
(1980)
Nijinsky
as Lady Ripon
(1980)
Carpathian Eagle
as Mrs. Henska
(1977)
Heartbreak House
as Hesione Hushabye
(1977)
The Achurch Letters
as Janet Achurch
(1974)
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
as Mrs. Patrick Campbell
(1972)
Under Milk Wood
as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
(1971)
Murphy's War
as Hayden
(1971)
Platonov
as Anna
(1969)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
as Ursula Mossbank
(1969)
Laughter in the Dark
as Lady Pamela More
(1968)
(1968)
Thief
as Woman
(1966)
Eh, Joe?
as Voice
(1965)
Young Cassidy
as Ella
(1964)
Becket
as Gwendolen
(1962)
The Longest Day
as WRNS Officer (uncredited)
(1962)
Don Juan in Hell
as Dona Ana
Crew
(2021)