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.

Cast

The 50 Greatest Television Dramas

(Self)

Dune

(Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam)

Clash of the Titans

(Cassiopeia)

The Mountain That Had To Be Painted

(Narrator)

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor

(Charal)

The Age of Innocence

(Mrs. Archer)

The Snow Spider

(Nain Griffiths)

Emlyn's Moon

(Nain Griffiths)

National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood

(Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon)

The Chestnut Soldier

(Nain Griffiths)

Murphy's War

(Hayden)

Under Milk Wood

(Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard)

Becket

(Gwendolen)

Valmont

(Madame de Volanges)

The Murder Room

(Marie Strickland)

Eh, Joe?

(Voice)

Come and Go

(Ru)

A Picture of London

(Narrator)

Young Cassidy

(Ella)

Nijinsky

(Lady Ripon)

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba

(Self)

Red Empire

(Narrator (voice))

Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill

(Mrs. Patrick Campbell)

The Doctor and the Devils

(Annabella Rock)

Under Milk Wood

(Mrs. Pugh)

The Borrowers

(Mrs. Driver)

The Scold's Bridle

(Mathilda Gillespie)

Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends

(Self)

It’s Dearer After Midnight

(Jo)

Apple Cider Vinegar

(Voice)

Thief

(Woman)

Don Juan in Hell

(Dona Ana)

Lovesong

(Maggie)

The Black Candle

(Daisy Barnett)

Siân Phillips at 90

(Self)

Aberfan: The Green Hollow

Stalin: Inside the Terror

(Narrator)

The Vacillations of Poppy Carew

(Calypso)

Alice Through the Looking Glass

(Red Queen)

Dark River

(Mrs. Blessington)

House of America

(Mam)

Heartbreak House

(Hesione Hushabye)

Hochelaga, Land of Souls

(Sarah Walker)

Voyageuse

(Erica)

The Mousehole Cat

(Narrator)

Miss Dalí

(Anna Maria Dalí)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

(Ursula Mossbank)

To Provide All People

(Patient)

David Macaulay: Pyramid

(Mersyankh (voice))

A Christmas Carol

(Grandmother / narrator (voice))

How Many Miles to Babylon?

(Mrs Alicia Moore)

Nureyev

(Narrator)

Dream Horse

(Maureen)

Aristocrats

(Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox)

Be Happy!

Summerland

(Margaret Corey)

The Longest Day

(WRNS Officer (uncredited))

Time & Again

(Eleanor)

National Theatre Live: Les Blancs

(Madame Neilsen)

I, Claudius: A Television Epic

(Self)

Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime

(Evil Baroness)

Platonov

(Anna)

Carpathian Eagle

(Mrs. Henska)

Still: Here/Now

(Self)

Laughter in the Dark

(Lady Pamela More)

The Achurch Letters

(Janet Achurch)

I, Claudius

(Livia)

I, Claudius

(Livia Drusilla)

The Magician's House

(Meg Lewis)

La Femme Nikita

(Adrian)

How Green Was My Valley

(Beth Morgan)

Perfect Scoundrels

(Mother Aloysius)

A Year in the Beacons

(Narrator)

Wonders of the Celtic Deep

(Self - Narrator)

The Two Mrs. Grenvilles

(Duchess of Windsor)

Good Omens

(Mr. Henderson)

Smiley's People

Hammer House of Horror

(Mrs. Henska)

Tony Awards

(Self - Nominee)

Arthouse

(Self - Commentary)

The Return of the Borrowers

(Mrs. Driver)

Warrior Queen

(Queen Boudicca)

Hallmark Hall of Fame

(Lady Lavery)

Tales of the Unexpected

(Hermione)

The Chelsea Detective

(Grandma Dix)

Shoulder to Shoulder

(Emmeline Pankhurst)

Vanity Fair

(Miss Matilda Crawley)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

(Ann Smiley)

Heidi

(Frau Sesemann)

Attila

(Grandmother)

Ivanhoe

(Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine)

McDonald & Dodds

(Agnes Gillian)

The Last Detective

(Vera Dulciman)

The Scold's Bridle

(Mathilda)

Doctor Who

(Enid Meadows)

Silent Witness

(Beattie Elletson)

Midsomer Murders

(Lady Annabel Butler)

Agatha Christie's Poirot

(Mrs. Laura Upward)

Crime and Punishment

(Katerina Ivanovna)