Acting
Siân Phillips
EN, PT, CA, FR cinema · 67 credits
Born
14 May 1933 (age 93)
Birthplace
Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales
Also known as Sian Phillips · Jane Elizabeth Ailwên 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
Filmography
Apple Cider Vinegar
as Voice
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood
as Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon
Dream Horse
as Maureen
A Christmas Carol
as Grandmother / narrator (voice)
Summerland
as Margaret Corey
Be Happy!
as Maria
Time & Again
as Eleanor
National Theatre Live: Les Blancs
as Madame Neilsen
Voyageuse
as Erica
Miss Dalí
as Anna Maria Dalí
Nureyev
as Narrator
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
as Sarah Walker
Under Milk Wood
as Mrs. Pugh
Lovesong
as Maggie
The Murder Room
as Marie Strickland
Stalin: Inside the Terror
as Narrator
Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film
as Self - Ru (archive footage)
Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime
as Evil Baroness
The Scold's Bridle
as Mathilda Gillespie
Alice Through the Looking Glass
as Red Queen
The Mousehole Cat
as Narrator
The Age of Innocence
as Mrs. Archer
The Chestnut Soldier
as Nain Griffiths
The Black Candle
as Daisy Barnett
Emlyn's Moon
as Nain Griffiths
Dark River
as Mrs. Blessington
Valmont
as Madame de Volanges
David Macaulay: Pyramid
as Mersyankh (voice)
The Snow Spider
as Nain Griffiths
The Doctor and the Devils
as Annabella Rock
Dune
as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
How Many Miles to Babylon?
as Mrs Alicia Moore
Clash of the Titans
as Cassiopeia
Nijinsky
as Lady Ripon
Carpathian Eagle
as Mrs. Henska
Heartbreak House
as Hesione Hushabye
The Achurch Letters
as Janet Achurch
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
as Mrs. Patrick Campbell
Under Milk Wood
as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
Murphy's War
as Hayden
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
as Ursula Mossbank
Laughter in the Dark
as Lady Pamela More
Thief
1968
Thief
as Woman
Eh, Joe?
as Voice
Young Cassidy
as Ella
Becket
as Gwendolen
The Longest Day
as WRNS Officer (uncredited)