
Siân Phillips
Acting
- Born:
- 1933-05-14
- Place of birth:
- Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales
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
Filmography

Frank and Percy

Richard Burton: Wild Genius

Emperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty

Apple Cider Vinegar

Alec Guinness: A Class Act

Doctor Who
Siân Phillips at 90

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba

Remembers…

Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends

The Chelsea Detective

Wonders of the Celtic Deep

A Year in the Beacons

National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood

Dream Horse

A Christmas Carol

Summerland

McDonald & Dodds

National Theatre Live: Les Blancs

Time & Again

Be Happy!

Good Omens

Nureyev
To Provide All People

Miss Dalí

Voyageuse

Hochelaga, Land of Souls
Aberfan: The Green Hollow

Under Milk Wood
A Picture of London

Playhouse Presents

Lovesong

The Mountain That Had To Be Painted

Lewis

The 50 Greatest Television Dramas

The Murder Room
Still: Here/Now

The Last Detective

Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film

Stalin: Inside the Terror

I, Claudius: A Television Epic

Attila

Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime
Come and Go

The Magician's House

Aristocrats

Alice Through the Looking Glass

The Scold's Bridle

The Scold's Bridle
Arthouse

Midsomer Murders

La Femme Nikita

Ivanhoe

House of America

Silent Witness

The Mousehole Cat

The Vacillations of Poppy Carew
The Return of the Borrowers

The Age of Innocence

Heidi
The Sherman Plays

The Borrowers

The Chestnut Soldier

Tonight at 8.30

The Black Candle

Emlyn's Moon

Perfect Scoundrels
Red Empire

Dark River

Valmont

Shadow of the Noose

Agatha Christie's Poirot

David Macaulay: Pyramid

The Snow Spider
The Snow Spider

Vanity Fair

A Killing on the Exchange

The Two Mrs. Grenvilles

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor

The Doctor and the Devils

Dune

How Many Miles to Babylon?

Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years

Clash of the Titans

Carpathian Eagle

Hammer House of Horror

Nijinsky

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Crime and Punishment

Tales of the Unexpected

Warrior Queen

Heartbreak House

The Achurch Letters

I, Claudius

How Green Was My Valley

Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill

Shoulder to Shoulder

Playhouse

Under Milk Wood
Platonov

Murphy's War

Goodbye, Mr. Chips
W. Somerset Maugham

Laughter in the Dark

ITV Saturday Night Theatre
The Sex Game
Thief

It’s Dearer After Midnight
City '68

ITV Playhouse

Half Hour Story

Eh, Joe?

BBC Play of the Month

Young Cassidy

Becket

Espionage
Don Juan in Hell

The Longest Day
Drama 61-67

Armchair Theatre

Tony Awards

Hallmark Hall of Fame