Siân Phillips
| Dame Siân Phillips DBE |
|
|---|---|
"Crossing Borders", London, January 2011
|
|
| Born |
Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips 14 May 1933 Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales |
| Occupation | Actress, author, singer |
| Years active | 1944–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Don Roy (m. 1956; div. 1959) Peter O'Toole (m. 1959; div. 1979) Robin Sachs (m. 1979; div. 1991) |
| Children | 2; including Kate O'Toole |
Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips, DBE (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips (/ˈʃɑːn/), is a Welsh actress, author and singer.
Phillips was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales, the daughter of Sally (née Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman. She is a Welsh-speaker: 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 was originally known there as Jane. But her Welsh teacher, Eic Davies, called her Siân, the Welsh form of Jane. Later she took up 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. 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.
Phillips began acting professionally at the age of 11 with the Home Service of BBC Radio in Wales. Her first role was as a ginger tom cat. 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 schoolfriend played the parts of two elderly men in a dramatic duologue.
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