Siân Phillips
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
Credits
- 2024 · Apple Cider Vinegar as Voice
- 2024 · Doctor Who as Enid Meadows
- 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
- 2021 · Wonders of the Celtic Deep as Self - Narrator
- 2021 · A Year in the Beacons as Narrator
- 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
- 2019 · National Theatre Live: Les Blancs as Madame Neilsen
- 2019 · Time & Again as Eleanor
- 2019 · Be Happy! as
- 2019 · Good Omens as Mr. Henderson
- 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 as
- 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
- 2003 · Stalin: Inside the Terror as Narrator
- 2002 · I, Claudius: A Television Epic as Self
- 2001 · Attila as Grandmother
- 2000 · Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime as Evil Baroness
- 2000 · Come and Go as Ru
- 1999 · The Magician's House as Meg Lewis
- 1999 · Aristocrats as Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox
- 1998 · Alice Through the Looking Glass as Red Queen
- 1998 · The Scold's Bridle as Mathilda
- 1998 · The Scold's Bridle as Mathilda Gillespie
- 1997 · Arthouse as Self - Commentary
- 1997 · Midsomer Murders as Lady Annabel Butler
- 1997 · La Femme Nikita as Adrian
- 1997 · Ivanhoe as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
- 1997 · House of America as Mam
- 1996 · Silent Witness as Beattie Elletson
- 1995 · The Mousehole Cat as Narrator
- 1995 · The Vacillations of Poppy Carew as Calypso
- 1993 · The Borrowers as Mrs. Driver
- 1993 · The Return of the Borrowers as Mrs. Driver
- 1993 · The Age of Innocence as Mrs. Archer
- 1993 · Heidi as Frau Sesemann
- 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
- 1990 · Red Empire as Narrator (voice)
- 1990 · Dark River as Mrs. Blessington
- 1989 · Valmont as Madame de Volanges
- 1989 · Agatha Christie's Poirot as Mrs. Laura Upward
- 1989 · David Macaulay: Pyramid as Mersyankh (voice)
- 1988 · The Snow Spider as Nain Griffiths
- 1987 · Vanity Fair as Miss Matilda Crawley
- 1987 · The Two Mrs. Grenvilles as Duchess of Windsor
- 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 as
- 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
- 1980 · Nijinsky as Lady Ripon
- 1979 · Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as Ann Smiley
- 1979 · Crime and Punishment as Katerina Ivanovna
- 1979 · Tales of the Unexpected as Hermione
- 1978 · Warrior Queen as Queen Boudicca
- 1977 · Heartbreak House as Hesione Hushabye
- 1977 · The Achurch Letters as Janet Achurch
- 1976 · I, Claudius as Livia
- 1976 · I, Claudius as Livia Drusilla
- 1975 · How Green Was My Valley as Beth Morgan
- 1974 · Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill as Mrs. Patrick Campbell
- 1974 · Shoulder to Shoulder as Emmeline Pankhurst
- 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
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Lady Lavery