Actor
· Acting
Siân Phillips
Born 1933-05-14
📍 Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales
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 103
Richard Burton: Wild Genius
as Self
2025
Emperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty
as Narrator
2024
Apple Cider Vinegar
as Voice
2024
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
as self
2024
Doctor Who
as Enid Meadows
2024
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
as Self
2022
Remembers…
as Self
2022
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
as Self
2022
The Chelsea Detective
as Grandma Dix
2022
Wonders of the Celtic Deep
as Self - Narrator
2021
A Year in the Beacons
as Narrator
2021
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood
as Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon
2021
Dream Horse
as Maureen
2021
A Christmas Carol
as Grandmother / narrator (voice)
2020
Summerland
as Margaret Corey
2020
McDonald & Dodds
as Agnes Gillian
2020
National Theatre Live: Les Blancs
as Madame Neilsen
2019
Time & Again
as Eleanor
2019
Be Happy!
2019
Good Omens
as Mr. Henderson
2019
Nureyev
as Narrator
2018
Miss Dalí
as Anna Maria Dalí
2018
Voyageuse
as Erica
2018
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
as Sarah Walker
2017
Under Milk Wood
as Mrs. Pugh
2014
Playhouse Presents
as May
2012
Lovesong
as Maggie
2012
The Mountain That Had To Be Painted
as Narrator
2011
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
as Self
2007
The Murder Room
as Marie Strickland
2004
The Last Detective
as Vera Dulciman
2003
Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film
as Self - Ru (archive footage)
2003
Stalin: Inside the Terror
as Narrator
2003
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
as Self
2002
Attila
as Grandmother
2001
Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime
as Evil Baroness
2000
The Magician's House
as Meg Lewis
1999
The Magician's House
as Meg Lewis / Lutra the Otter (voice)
1999
Aristocrats
as Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox
1999
Alice Through the Looking Glass
as Red Queen
1998
The Scold's Bridle
as Mathilda Gillespie
1998
The Scold's Bridle
as Mathilda
1998
Midsomer Murders
as Lady Annabel Butler
1997
La Femme Nikita
as Adrian
1997
Ivanhoe
as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
1997
House of America
as Mam
1997
Silent Witness
as Beattie Elletson
1996
The Mousehole Cat
as Narrator
1995
The Vacillations of Poppy Carew
as Calypso
1995
The Age of Innocence
as Mrs. Archer
1993
Heidi
as Frau Sesemann
1993
The Borrowers
as Mrs. Driver
1992
The Chestnut Soldier
as Nain Griffiths
1991
The Black Candle
as Daisy Barnett
1991
Emlyn's Moon
as Nain Griffiths
1990
Perfect Scoundrels
as Mother Aloysius
1990
Dark River
as Mrs. Blessington
1990
Valmont
as Madame de Volanges
1989
Shadow of the Noose
as Lady Scott
1989
Agatha Christie's Poirot
as Mrs. Laura Upward
1989
David Macaulay: Pyramid
as Mersyankh (voice)
1989
The Snow Spider
as Nain Griffiths
1988
Vanity Fair
as Matilda Crawley
1987
A Killing on the Exchange
as Isobel Makepeace
1987
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
as Duchess of Windsor
1987
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
as Charal
1985
The Doctor and the Devils
as Annabella Rock
1985
Dune
as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
1984
How Many Miles to Babylon?
as Mrs Alicia Moore
1982
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
as Clementine Churchill
1981
Clash of the Titans
as Cassiopeia
1981
Carpathian Eagle
as Mrs. Henska
1980
Hammer House of Horror
as Mrs. Henska
1980
Nijinsky
as Lady Ripon
1980
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
as Ann Smiley
1979
Crime and Punishment
as Katerina Ivánovna
1979
Tales of the Unexpected
as Hermione
1979
Warrior Queen
as Queen Boudicca
1978
Heartbreak House
as Hesione Hushabye
1977
The Achurch Letters
as Janet Achurch
1977
I, Claudius
as Livia
1976
How Green Was My Valley
as Beth Morgan
1975
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
as Mrs. Patrick Campbell
1974
Shoulder to Shoulder
as Emmeline Pankhurst
1974
Playhouse
as Janet Achurch
1974
Playhouse
as Alicia Moore
1974
Under Milk Wood
as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
1972
Murphy's War
as Hayden
1971
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
as Ursula Mossbank
1969
Laughter in the Dark
as Lady Pamela More
1969
It’s Dearer After Midnight
as Jo
1968
ITV Playhouse
as May Bartram
1967
Eh, Joe?
as Voice
1966
BBC Play of the Month
as Anna Voinitseva
1965
BBC Play of the Month
as The Duchesse of Berwich
1965
BBC Play of the Month
as Hesione Hushabye
1965
Young Cassidy
as Ella
1965
Becket
as Gwendolen
1964
Espionage
as Anna
1963
The Longest Day
as WRNS Officer (uncredited)
1962
Armchair Theatre
1956
Tony Awards
as Self - Nominee
1956
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Lady Lavery
1951