
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