Siân Phillips
Known for ActingBorn 1933-05-14Gwaun-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.
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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.
Known for
The Longest Day
1962 · as WRNS Officer (uncredited)
Dune
1984 · as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
Clash of the Titans
1981 · as Cassiopeia
The Age of Innocence
1993 · as Mrs. Archer
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
1985 · as Charal
Dream Horse
2021 · as Maureen
Valmont
1989 · as Madame de Volanges
Becket
1964 · as Gwendolen
Richard Burton: Wild Genius
2025 · as Self
A Christmas Carol
2020 · as Grandmother / narrator (voice)
Murphy's War
1971 · as Hayden
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1969 · as Ursula Mossbank
Summerland
2020 · as Margaret Corey
Under Milk Wood
1972 · as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard
To Provide All People
2018 · as Patient
The Murder Room
2004 · as Marie Strickland
Be Happy!
2019
Dark River
1990 · as Mrs. Blessington