Siân Phillips
Born: 1933-05-14 in 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.
Filmography
2025
- Richard Burton: Wild Genius as Self
2024
- Doctor Who as Enid Meadows
- Alec Guinness: A Class Act as self
- Apple Cider Vinegar as Voice
- Emperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty as Narrator
2023
- Siân Phillips at 90 as Self
2022
- The Chelsea Detective as Grandma Dix
- Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
- Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends as Self
2021
- National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood as Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon
- Dream Horse as Maureen
- Wonders of the Celtic Deep as Self - Narrator
- A Year in the Beacons as Narrator
2020
- McDonald & Dodds as Agnes Gillian
- A Christmas Carol as Grandmother / narrator (voice)
- Summerland as Margaret Corey
2019
- Good Omens as Mr. Henderson
- Be Happy!
- National Theatre Live: Les Blancs as Madame Neilsen
- Time & Again as Eleanor
2018
- Nureyev as Narrator
- Voyageuse as Erica
- Miss Dalí as Anna Maria Dalí
- To Provide All People as Patient
2017
- Hochelaga, Land of Souls as Sarah Walker
2014
- Under Milk Wood as Mrs. Pugh
2012
- A Picture of London as Narrator
- Lovesong as Maggie
2011
- The Mountain That Had To Be Painted as Narrator
2007
2004
- The Murder Room as Marie Strickland
2003
- The Last Detective as Vera Dulciman
- Still: Here/Now as Self
- Stalin: Inside the Terror as Narrator
2002
- I, Claudius: A Television Epic as Self
2001
- Attila as Grandmother
2000
- Come and Go as Ru
- Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime as Evil Baroness
1999
- Aristocrats as Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox
- The Magician's House as Meg Lewis
1998
- The Scold's Bridle as Mathilda Gillespie
- Alice Through the Looking Glass as Red Queen
- The Scold's Bridle as Mathilda
1997
- Midsomer Murders as Lady Annabel Butler
- La Femme Nikita as Adrian
- Ivanhoe as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
- House of America as Mam
- Arthouse as Self - Commentary
1996
- Silent Witness as Beattie Elletson
1995
- The Vacillations of Poppy Carew as Calypso
- The Mousehole Cat as Narrator
1993
- The Age of Innocence as Mrs. Archer
- Heidi as Frau Sesemann
- The Return of the Borrowers as Mrs. Driver
- The Sherman Plays as Self - Introduction
1992
- The Borrowers as Mrs. Driver
1991
- The Black Candle as Daisy Barnett
- The Chestnut Soldier as Nain Griffiths
1990
- Emlyn's Moon as Nain Griffiths
- Dark River as Mrs. Blessington
- Perfect Scoundrels as Mother Aloysius
- Red Empire as Narrator (voice)
1989
- Agatha Christie's Poirot as Mrs. Laura Upward
- Valmont as Madame de Volanges
- David Macaulay: Pyramid as Mersyankh (voice)
- Shadow of the Noose as Lady Scott
1988
- The Snow Spider as Nain Griffiths
1987
- The Two Mrs. Grenvilles as Duchess of Windsor
- Vanity Fair as Matilda Crawley
1985
- Ewoks: The Battle for Endor as Charal
- The Doctor and the Devils as Annabella Rock
1984
- Dune as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
1982
- Smiley's People as Lady Ann Smiley
- How Many Miles to Babylon? as Mrs Alicia Moore
1981
- Clash of the Titans as Cassiopeia
- Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years as Clementine Churchill
1980
- Nijinsky as Lady Ripon
- Hammer House of Horror as Mrs. Henska
- Carpathian Eagle as Mrs. Henska
1979
- Tales of the Unexpected as Hermione
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as Ann Smiley
- Crime and Punishment as Katerina Ivanovna
1978
- Warrior Queen as Queen Boudicca
1977
- Heartbreak House as Hesione Hushabye
- The Achurch Letters as Janet Achurch
1976
- I, Claudius as Livia
1975
- How Green Was My Valley as Beth Morgan
1974
- Playhouse as Janet Achurch
- Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill as Mrs. Patrick Campbell
- Shoulder to Shoulder as Emmeline Pankhurst
1972
- Under Milk Wood as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
1971
- Platonov as Anna
- Murphy's War as Hayden
1969
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips as Ursula Mossbank
- Laughter in the Dark as Lady Pamela More
1968
- Thief as Woman
- It’s Dearer After Midnight as Jo
1966
- Eh, Joe? as Voice
1965
- BBC Play of the Month as Anna Voinitseva
- Young Cassidy as Ella
1964
- Becket as Gwendolen
1962
- The Longest Day as WRNS Officer (uncredited)
- Don Juan in Hell as Dona Ana
1956
- Tony Awards as Self - Nominee
1951
- Hallmark Hall of Fame as Lady Lavery