Acting · Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales · Born May 14, 1933
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.
MovieRichard Burton: Wild Genius
2025
as Self
TVEmperor: Rise & Fall of a Dynasty
2024
as Narrator
MovieApple Cider Vinegar
2024
as Voice
MovieAlec Guinness: A Class Act
2024
as self
TVDoctor Who
2024
as Enid Meadows
Siân Phillips at 90
2023
as Self
MoviePeter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022
as Self
TVRemembers…
2022
as Self
MovieStephen Sondheim's Old Friends
2022
as Self
TVThe Chelsea Detective
2022
as Grandma Dix
TVWonders of the Celtic Deep
2021
as Self - Narrator
TVA Year in the Beacons
2021
as Narrator
MovieNational Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood
2021
as Mrs Utah Watkins / Polly Garter / Mrs Beyon
MovieDream Horse
2021
as Maureen
MovieA Christmas Carol
2020
as Grandmother / narrator (voice)
MovieSummerland
2020
as Margaret Corey
TVMcDonald & Dodds
2020
as Agnes Gillian
MovieNational Theatre Live: Les Blancs
2019
as Madame Neilsen
MovieTime & Again
2019
as Eleanor
MovieBe Happy!
2019
TVGood Omens
2019
as Mr. Henderson
MovieNureyev
2018
as Narrator
To Provide All People
2018
as Patient
MovieMiss Dalí
2018
as Anna Maria Dalí
MovieVoyageuse
2018
as Erica
MovieHochelaga, Land of Souls
2017
as Sarah Walker
Aberfan: The Green Hollow
2016
MovieUnder Milk Wood
2014
as Mrs. Pugh
A Picture of London
2012
as Narrator
TVPlayhouse Presents
2012
as May
MovieLovesong
2012
as Maggie
MovieThe Mountain That Had To Be Painted
2011
as Narrator
TVLewis
2007
as Adele Goffe
MovieThe 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007
as Self
MovieThe Murder Room
2004
as Marie Strickland
Still: Here/Now
2003
as Self
TVThe Last Detective
2003
as Vera Dulciman
MovieCheck the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film
2003
as Self - Ru (archive footage)
MovieStalin: Inside the Terror
2003
as Narrator
MovieI, Claudius: A Television Epic
2002
as Self
TVAttila
2001
as Grandmother
MovieCinderella: The ITV Pantomime
2000
as Evil Baroness
Come and Go
2000
as Ru
TVThe Magician's House
1999
as Meg Lewis
MovieAristocrats
1999
as Narrator/Older Lady Emily Lennox
MovieAlice Through the Looking Glass
1998
as Red Queen
MovieThe Scold's Bridle
1998
as Mathilda Gillespie
TVThe Scold's Bridle
1998
as Mathilda
Arthouse
1997
as Self - Commentary
TVMidsomer Murders
1997
as Lady Annabel Butler
TVLa Femme Nikita
1997
as Adrian
TVIvanhoe
1997
as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
MovieHouse of America
1997
as Mam
TVSilent Witness
1996
as Beattie Elletson
MovieThe Mousehole Cat
1995
as Narrator
MovieThe Vacillations of Poppy Carew
1995
as Calypso
The Return of the Borrowers
1993
as Mrs. Driver
MovieThe Age of Innocence
1993
as Mrs. Archer
TVHeidi
1993
as Frau Sesemann
The Sherman Plays
1993
as Self - Introduction
TVThe Borrowers
1992
as Mrs. Driver
MovieThe Chestnut Soldier
1991
as Nain Griffiths
TVTonight at 8.30
1991
as Clare Wedderburn
MovieThe Black Candle
1991
as Daisy Barnett
MovieEmlyn's Moon
1990
as Nain Griffiths
TVPerfect Scoundrels
1990
as Mother Aloysius
Red Empire
1990
as Narrator (voice)
MovieDark River
1990
as Mrs. Blessington
MovieValmont
1989
as Madame de Volanges
TVShadow of the Noose
1989
as Lady Scott
TVAgatha Christie's Poirot
1989
as Mrs. Laura Upward
MovieDavid Macaulay: Pyramid
1989
as Mersyankh (voice)
MovieThe Snow Spider
1988
as Nain Griffiths
TVVanity Fair
1987
as Matilda Crawley
TVA Killing on the Exchange
1987
as Isobel Makepeace
TVThe Two Mrs. Grenvilles
1987
as Duchess of Windsor
MovieEwoks: The Battle for Endor
1985
as Charal
MovieThe Doctor and the Devils
1985
as Annabella Rock
MovieDune
1984
as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
MovieHow Many Miles to Babylon?
1982
as Mrs Alicia Moore
TVWinston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
1981
as Clementine Churchill
MovieClash of the Titans
1981
as Cassiopeia
MovieCarpathian Eagle
1980
as Mrs. Henska
TVHammer House of Horror
1980
as Mrs. Henska
MovieNijinsky
1980
as Lady Ripon
TVTinker Tailor Soldier Spy
1979
as Ann Smiley
TVCrime and Punishment
1979
as Katerina Ivánovna
TVTales of the Unexpected
1979
as Hermione
TVWarrior Queen
1978
as Queen Boudicca
MovieHeartbreak House
1977
as Hesione Hushabye
MovieThe Achurch Letters
1977
as Janet Achurch
TVI, Claudius
1976
as Livia
TVHow Green Was My Valley
1975
as Beth Morgan
MovieJennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
1974
as Mrs. Patrick Campbell
TVShoulder to Shoulder
1974
as Emmeline Pankhurst
TVPlayhouse
1974
as Janet Achurch
MovieUnder Milk Wood
1972
as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
Platonov
1971
as Anna
MovieMurphy's War
1971
as Hayden
MovieGoodbye, Mr. Chips
1969
as Ursula Mossbank
W. Somerset Maugham
1969
as Martha Jones
MovieLaughter in the Dark
1969
as Lady Pamela More
TVITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
as Sally Stirling
The Sex Game
1968
as Louisa
Thief
1968
as Woman
MovieIt’s Dearer After Midnight
1968
as Jo
City '68
1967
as Jo
TVITV Playhouse
1967
as May Bartram
TVHalf Hour Story
1967
as A Girl
MovieEh, Joe?
1966
as Voice
TVBBC Play of the Month
1965
as Anna Voinitseva
MovieYoung Cassidy
1965
as Ella
MovieBecket
1964
as Gwendolen
TVEspionage
1963
as Anna
Don Juan in Hell
1962
as Dona Ana
MovieThe Longest Day
1962
as WRNS Officer (uncredited)
Drama 61-67
1961
as Carole Blair
TVArmchair Theatre
1956
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self - Nominee
TVHallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Lady Lavery
Frank and Percy
