Siân Phillips
Actor
Biography
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
The Age of Innocence
as Mrs. Archer 1993
The Longest Day
as WRNS Officer (uncredited) 1962
Clash of the Titans
as Cassiopeia 1981
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
as Charal 1985
Valmont
as Madame de Volanges 1989
Summerland
as Margaret Corey 2020
Becket
as Gwendolen 1964
Dream Horse
as Maureen 2021
Murphy's War
as Hayden 1971
Alice Through the Looking Glass
as Red Queen 1998
The Doctor and the Devils
as Annabella Rock 1985
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
as Ursula Mossbank 1969
Nureyev
as Narrator 2018
Under Milk Wood
as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard 1972
Young Cassidy
as Ella 1965
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
as Sarah Walker 2017