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.
115 acting credits
Acting · 115
Midsomer Murders
1997
Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989
Silent Witness
1996
Tony Awards
1956
Good Omens
2019
Tales of the Unexpected
1979
BBC Play of the Month
1965
Doctor Who
2024
Playhouse
1974
ITV Playhouse
1967
La Femme Nikita
1997
The Chelsea Detective
2022
Playhouse Presents
2012
McDonald & Dodds
2020
Drama 61-67
1961
Remembers…
2022
Dune
1984
I, Claudius
1976
Espionage
1963
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
Valmont
1989
The Longest Day
1962
Hammer House of Horror
1980
The Last Detective
2003
Clash of the Titans
1981
Attila
2001
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
1979
Alice Through the Looking Glass
1998
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
The Borrowers
1992
The Age of Innocence
1993
Arthouse
1997
Perfect Scoundrels
1990
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
1981
Ivanhoe
1997
The Magician's House
1999
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
1987
Shadow of the Noose
1989
The Return of the Borrowers
1993
Armchair Theatre
1956
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
1985
Heidi
1993
How Green Was My Valley
1975
Dream Horse
2021
Becket
1964
Crime and Punishment
1979
Shoulder to Shoulder
1974
Summerland
2020
Vanity Fair
1987
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1969
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007
A Killing on the Exchange
1987
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022
Richard Burton: Wild Genius
2025
The Doctor and the Devils
1985
The Scold's Bridle
1998
Under Milk Wood
2014
Nijinsky
1980
Murphy's War
1971
To Provide All People
2018
The Vacillations of Poppy Carew
1995
Emperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty
2024
Under Milk Wood
1972
The Sherman Plays
1993
The Black Candle
1991
The Murder Room
2004
Warrior Queen
1978
Heartbreak House
1977
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
1974
Young Cassidy
1965
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
2022
A Christmas Carol
2020
Aristocrats
1999
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
2017
Wonders of the Celtic Deep
2021
Red Empire
1990
A Year in the Beacons
2021
Miss Dalí
2018
David Macaulay: Pyramid
1989
Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film
2003
Carpathian Eagle
1980
Frank and Percy
—
Aberfan: The Green Hollow
2016
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood
2021
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
2002
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
2024
National Theatre Live: Les Blancs
2019
House of America
1997
Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime
2000
Laughter in the Dark
1969
Nureyev
2018
The Achurch Letters
1977
Still: Here/Now
2003
How Many Miles to Babylon?
1982
Stalin: Inside the Terror
2003
The Scold's Bridle
1998
Be Happy!
2019
Dark River
1990
Platonov
1971
Siân Phillips at 90
2023
Thief
1968
The Chestnut Soldier
1991
Lovesong
2012
Come and Go
2000
Emlyn's Moon
1990
The Snow Spider
1988
Voyageuse
2018
Eh, Joe?
1966
Apple Cider Vinegar
2024
A Picture of London
2012
The Mousehole Cat
1995
Time & Again
2019
It’s Dearer After Midnight
1968
The Mountain That Had To Be Painted
2011
Don Juan in Hell
1962