Siân Phillips
Known for: Acting
Born: May 14, 1933
Place of birth: 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.
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Filmography
68 movies · 53 TV shows, newest first
7.5
Richard Burton: Wild Genius
2025
7.5
Emperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty
2024
8.0
Apple Cider Vinegar
2024
6.0
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
2024
6.4
Doctor Who
2024NR
Siân Phillips at 90
2023
7.3
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022
7.0
Remembers…
2022
8.0
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
2022
6.3
The Chelsea Detective
2022
NR
Wonders of the Celtic Deep
2021
NR
A Year in the Beacons
2021
NR
National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood
2021
7.0
Dream Horse
2021
7.5
A Christmas Carol
2020
7.5
Summerland
2020
7.6
McDonald & Dodds
2020
6.0
National Theatre Live: Les Blancs
2019
9.0
Time & Again
2019
5.5
Be Happy!
2019
8.0
Good Omens
2019
7.3
Nureyev
20188.0
To Provide All People
2018
5.7
Miss Dalí
2018
7.3
Voyageuse
2018
4.8
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
20176.3
Aberfan: The Green Hollow
2016
6.0
Under Milk Wood
2014NR
A Picture of London
2012
6.0
Playhouse Presents
2012
NR
Lovesong
2012
NR
The Mountain That Had To Be Painted
2011
7.6
Lewis
2007
NR
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007
6.5
The Murder Room
20049.0
Still: Here/Now
2003
7.8
The Last Detective
2003
10.0
Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film
2003
7.0
Stalin: Inside the Terror
2003
7.0
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
2002
6.3
Attila
2001
6.7
Cinderella: The ITV Pantomime
20006.0
Come and Go
2000
6.0
The Magician's House
1999
6.0
Aristocrats
1999
5.2
Alice Through the Looking Glass
1998
6.4
The Scold's Bridle
1998
NR
The Scold's Bridle
1998NR
Arthouse
1997
7.5
Midsomer Murders
1997
7.4
La Femme Nikita
1997
7.1
Ivanhoe
1997
5.7
House of America
1997
7.6
Silent Witness
1996
10.0
The Mousehole Cat
1995
5.0
The Vacillations of Poppy Carew
19957.0
The Return of the Borrowers
1993
7.0
The Age of Innocence
1993
7.1
Heidi
1993NR
The Sherman Plays
1993
6.7
The Borrowers
1992
7.0
The Chestnut Soldier
1991
7.0
Tonight at 8.30
1991
5.0
The Black Candle
1991
8.0
Emlyn's Moon
1990
6.0
Perfect Scoundrels
19909.0
Red Empire
1990
10.0
Dark River
1990
6.7
Valmont
1989
9.0
Shadow of the Noose
1989
8.2
Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989
NR
David Macaulay: Pyramid
1989
9.5
The Snow Spider
1988
NR
Vanity Fair
1987
5.0
A Killing on the Exchange
1987
5.0
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
1987
5.4
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
1985
6.2
The Doctor and the Devils
1985
6.2
Dune
1984
NR
How Many Miles to Babylon?
1982
6.3
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
1981
6.9
Clash of the Titans
1981
5.4
Carpathian Eagle
1980
7.1
Hammer House of Horror
1980
4.9
Nijinsky
1980
7.6
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
1979
8.0
Crime and Punishment
1979
6.8
Tales of the Unexpected
1979
6.7
Warrior Queen
1978
NR
Heartbreak House
1977
NR
The Achurch Letters
1977
7.8
I, Claudius
1976
6.7
How Green Was My Valley
1975
8.0
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
1974
6.5
Shoulder to Shoulder
1974
7.0
Playhouse
1974
6.1
Under Milk Wood
19728.0
Platonov
1971
6.1
Murphy's War
1971
6.8
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1969NR
W. Somerset Maugham
1969
4.3
Laughter in the Dark
1969
7.0
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969NR
The Sex Game
196810.0
Thief
1968
NR
It’s Dearer After Midnight
1968NR
City '68
1967
7.0
ITV Playhouse
1967
7.5
Half Hour Story
1967
10.0
Eh, Joe?
1966
5.2
BBC Play of the Month
1965
6.4
Young Cassidy
1965
7.2
Becket
1964
10.0
Espionage
1963NR
Don Juan in Hell
1962
7.6
The Longest Day
1962NR
Drama 61-67
1961
6.0
Armchair Theatre
1956
NR
Tony Awards
1956
8.8
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951NR
Frank and Percy
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