Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. Her early career consisted primarily of stage roles, including the title roles in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. In the 1960s, she started taking on more roles in television and film. She is particularly known for her performance as Livia in the 1976 BBC television series I,Claudius, for which she was awarded a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society award. She was nominated for a Tony Award and Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Marlene Dietrich in Marlene.
Early life Phillips was born on 14 May 1933 in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, South Wales, the daughter of Sally (née Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker who became a policeman. She is a Welsh-speaker: in the first volume of her autobiography Private Faces (1999) she notes that she spoke only Welsh for much of her childhood, learning English by listening to the radio.Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008."Sian Phillips" BBC:Wales Arts at www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
Phillips attended Pontardawe Grammar School and originally was known there as Jane, but her Welsh teacher called her Siân, the Welsh form of Jane."Sian Phillips: Stage and Screen Actress" at www.terrynorm.ic24.net. Retrieved 12 December 2011. Later she read English and Philosophy at University College Cardiff.
Phillips graduated from the University of Wales in 1955. She entered RADA with a scholarship in September 1955, the same year as Diana Rigg and Glenda Jackson.Jenny Gilbert, "How We Met: Diana Rigg and Valerie Solti" The Independent (6 September 1998). Retrieved at www.independent.co.uk, 13 December 2011."Sian Phillips" in Turner Classic Movies at www.tcm.com. Retrieved 13 December 2011 She won the Bancroft Gold Medal for Hedda Gabler and was offered work in Hollywood when she left RADA."Phillips, Siân (1933–)" in BFI Screenonline at www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2011. While still a student, she was offered three film contracts to work for an extended period of time in the United States, but she declined, preferring to work on stage."Wales Video Gallery: Sian Phillips" (video interview) at [walesvideogallery.org] Retrieved 18 December 2011.
Career Early career Phillips began acting professionally at the age of 11 with the Home Service of BBCRadio in Wales. At the same age she won her first speech-and-drama award for her performance at the National Eisteddfod held at Llandybïe in 1944, where she and a school friend played the parts of two elderly men in a dramatic duologue.
She made her first British television appearance at 17 and won a Welsh acting award at 18. In 1953, while still a student at University College, Cardiff she worked as a newsreader and announcer for the BBC in Wales and toured Wales in Welsh-language productions of the Welsh Arts Council.
From 1953 to 1955, Phillips was a member of the BBC Repertory Company and the National Theatre Company and toured Wales performing Welsh and English plays for the Welsh Arts Council. For the Nottingham Playhouse in 1958, she was Masha in Three Sisters. She performed as Princess Siwan in Saunders Lewis's The King's Daughter at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1959 and as Katherine in Taming of the Shrew for the Oxford Playhouse in 1960. She was Princess Siwan again in the BBC's production of Siwan: The King's Daughter alongside Peter O'Toole with Emyr Humphrys as producer. It was broadcast on BBCOne (Wales only) on 1March 1960."Siwan: The King's Daughter" in BBC One at www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2011. From October1958 to April1959, she was compere of the Land of Song (Gwlad y Gân) monthly programme at TWW (Television Wales and the West) Channel10 with baritone Ivor Emmanuel."TWW (Television Wales and the West) Channel 10" at [www.78rpm.co.uk]. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
She made her first appearance on the London stage in 1957 when she appeared in Hermann Sudermann's Magda for RADA."University of Kent: Special Collections Theatre Collections" at www.kent.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2011. Magda, about an opera diva, was her first real success in London. The play did well and benefited her career greatly; although she was only a student at the time, she was the first since Sarah Bernhardt to play the role.Terri Paddock, "20 Questions With... Sian Phillips" in Whats On Stage (15 March 2004) at www.whatsonstage.com. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
In 1957, Phillips performed the title role in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler,"V&A Search the Collections: Sian Phillips in The Holiday" at collections.vam.co.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2011."Sian Phillips: Milestones" in Turner Classic Movies in www.tcm.com. Retrieved 18 December 2011 which had its West End opening at The Duke of York's Theatre, December3, 1957, with Fredrik Ohlsson as Tesman. They also performed at Det Nye Teatret in Oslo and at The Vanbrugh, RADA. Many sources consider this her London stage debut, but she did Magda before Hedda Gabler. In September1958, she was performing as Margaret Muir in John Hall's The Holiday at Oxford New Theatre.
In May1958, Phillips performed as Joan in a production of Shaw's Saint Joan by Bryan Bailey, at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, which had opened just six weeks before. An observer described her performance:
She was Julia in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1960–1961 version of The Duchess of Malfi. Her Royal Shakespeare Company performances are: Julia in The Duchess of Malfi: at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (Stratford, 30November 1960, opening night). Julia in The Duchess of Malfi: at the Aldwych Theatre (London, 15December 1960, opening night) Bertha in Ondine: at the Aldwych Theatre (London, 12January 1961, opening night) Miss Havisham in Great Expectations: at Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford, 6December 2005).Royal Shakespeare Company Archive Catalogue at calm.shakespeare.org.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
Later film and television
Her long career has included many films and television programmes, but she is perhaps best known for starring as Livia in the popular BBC adaptation of Robert Graves's novel I, Claudius (BBC2, 1976), for which she won the 1977 BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress, and for many appearances on the original run of Call My Bluff. She also appeared opposite her then-husband Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton in Becket (1964); as Ursula Mossbank in the musical film Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), again starring O'Toole; once more opposite O'Toole in Murphy's War (1971); as Emmeline Pankhurst in the TV mini-series Shoulder to Shoulder (1974); as Beth Morgan in the TV series How Green Was My Valley (1975); as Clementine Churchill in Southern Television's Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) starring Robert Hardy; as Lady Ann, the unfaithful wife of Alec Guinness's character George Smiley, in the BBC1 espionage dramas Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979) and Smiley's People (1982), adapted from John le Carré's eponymous novels; in Nijinsky (1980); and as the queen Cassiopeia in Clash of the Titans (1981).
Another popular role was that of the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Charal from Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985). She also appeared in seasons 2 and 4 (1998 and 2000) of the Canadian TV series La Femme Nikita as Adrian, the renegade founder of the powerful Section One anti-terrorist organisation. In 2001, she appeared as herself in Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. and in Ballykissangel as faith healer Consuela Dunphy in Episode 7 ('One Born Every Minute' or 'Getting Better All the Time'). Her most recent film is The Gigolos (2006) by Richard Bracewell, in which she played Lady James. In 2010, she appeared in New Tricks in the episode "Coming out Ball", and in 2011 she appeared in the episode "Wild Justice" in the fifth season of the television series Lewis. In 2017, she played Lady Yvette Bristow in the TV series Strike. In 2022, she appeared in the series McDonald & Dodds. In 2024, Phillips portrayed Enid Meadows in the Doctor Who episode "73 Yards".
Other work Phillips's West End credits include Marlene (in which she portrayed Marlene Dietrich), Pal Joey, Gigi and A Little Night Music. She has also appeared on the American stage in Marlene.
Her National Theatre performances have included playing the roles of Lady Britomart in Major Barbara at the Lyttelton Theatre (18 October 1982, opening night); Madam Armfeldt in A Little Night Music at the Olivier Theatre (18 September 1995, opening night); Hope in In Bed With Magritte (1 December 1995, opening night);National Theatre: Archive Catalogue at worthing.nationaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2011. and Madame Neilsen in "Les Blancs" at the Olivier Theatre in 2016.
She provided spoken-word backing to a track on Rufus Wainwright's 2007 album Release the Stars and appeared live with him at the Old Vic Theatre in London in 2007. In 2009, Phillips starred in London's West End production of Calendar Girls. Phillips played Juliet opposite Michael Byrne's Romeo in Juliet and her Romeo at the Bristol Old Vic from 10 March to 24 April 2010.
In January 2011, she appeared in a new cabaret show, Crossing Borders, at Wilton's Music Hall in London. One review said: "Her cabaret shows are always of the more traditional type. She's had a long and very impressive career, and her show followed its progression, with backstage anecdotes about the people she's met and worked with along the way. It may not be edgy, but it's a truly delightful evening, by a truly delightful performer, in a truly delightful venue."
In 2015, she played the lead character Fania Fénelon in the Arthur Miller stage version of Playing for Time at Sheffield Theatres.
In 2024, Phillips reflected on her life and career, for the first time, in Siân Phillips at 90, broadcast on BBC One on 1 March. The documentary includes Phillips recounting, with candour, the difficulties in the later part of her marriage to O'Toole, which culminated in the ultimatum that she should leave the family home, without their two children, within the space of four hours.
In 2026 she appeared in "The Greeks" at the Tabard Theatre in London.
Phillips was due to play the role of the older Briony Tallis in Chichester Festival Theatre's world premiere adaptation of Atonement from 29 May to 20 June 2026 but withdrew from it shortly before it opened, expressing her "heartfelt regret" at doing so. No reason was given at the time for her stepping down and the part was instead taken by Jessica Turner. However, in August 2026 Phillips told The Times that she had struggled to remember her lines during rehearsals for the production and that, as a result, she had decided to retire from full-scale stage acting but would still take part in smaller productions. She said she would continue performing in her show It's All Greek and planned to appear in Samuel Beckett's Rockaby in 2027.
Accolades and honours Awards and nominations YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultRef1969Golden Globe AwardBest Supporting ActressGoodbye, Mr. Chips1970National Society of Film CriticsBest Supporting ActressGoodbye, Mr. Chips1976BAFTA TV AwardBest ActressI, Claudius and How Green Was My Valley1977Royal Television SocietyBest PerformanceI, Claudius1980Olivier AwardBest Actress in a MusicalPal Joey1996Olivier AwardBest Supporting Performance in a MusicalA Little Night Music1998Olivier AwardBest Actress in a MusicalMarlene1999Tony AwardBest Actress in a MusicalMarlene2001BAFTA Cymru (Wales)Special AwardSiân Phillips2013Olivier AwardBest Supporting Performance in a MusicalCabaret
In January 2018, Phillips was recognised for her career spanning more than 70 years at the BBC Audio Drama Awards, and was given a Radio Lifetime Achievement Award.
Honours