| Siân Phillips | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips 14 May 1933 Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK |
| Occupation | Actress, Author, Singer |
| Years active | 1944 - present |
| Spouse | Don Roy (1956-1959) Peter O'Toole (1959-1979); 2 daughters Robin Sachs (1979-1991) |
Jane Elizabeth Ailwên "Siân" Phillips, CBE, ( /ˈʃɑːn/ (born 14 May 1933)[1] is a Welsh actress.
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Phillips was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales, the daughter of Sally (née Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman.[2][3] 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.[4][5]
She attended Pontardawe Grammar School. Later she took up English and Philosophy at the University College of Wales in Cardiff. At RADA she won the Bancroft Gold Medal. She was originally known as and called Jane. But her Welsh teacher at school, Eric Davies, called her Siân (pronunced Shahn), the Welsh form of Jane.[6]
Phillips graduated from the University of Wales in 1955. She entered RADA, with a scholarship, in September 1955, the same year as Dame Diana Rigg and Glenda Jackson.[7][8][9] She went on to win the prestigious Bancroft Gold Medal for Hedda Gabler and was offered a Hollywood contract when she left.[10] She was offered three film contracts, entailing her to work for an extended period of time in the United States, while she was still at RADA. But she declined, preferring to work on stage instead.[11]
Phillips began acting professionally at the age of 11 with BBC Radio Wales. Her first role was a ginger tom cat.[12][13] Also at the age of 11 she won the National Eisteddfod for the first name (acting the part of an old woman). She made her first British television appearance at 17 and won a Welsh acting award at 18. In 1953, while still a student at Cardiff University, she worked as a newsreader and announcer for the BBC in Wales and toured Wales in Welsh-language productions of the Welsh Arts Council.[14][15][16]
From 1953 to 1955 she 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. Performed as Princess Siwan in Saunders Lewis' 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 BBC One (Wales only) on 1 March 1960.[17][18] From October 1958 to April 1959, she was compere of the Land of Song (Gwlad y Gân) monthly programme at TWW (Television Wales and the West) Channel 10 with baritone Ivor Emmanuel.[19]
She made her first appearance on the London stage in 1957 when she appeared in Hermann Sudermann's Magda for RADA.[20] 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 played a part that had not been played since Sarah Bernhardt had played it.[21]
In 1957 (some sources say 1959) Phillips performed the title role in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.[22][23][24] Many sources consider this as her London stage debut but she actually did Magda before Hedda Gabler.[25] In September 1958 she was performing as Margaret Muir in John Hall's The Holiday at Oxford New Theatre.[26] In 1958 she played the title role in Saint Joan in Covington.[27]
In May 1958 Phillips performed as St.Joan in G. B. Shaw's Saint Joan, at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, which had opened just six weeks before, produced by Bryan Bailey. An observer described her performance: "Sian Phillips' portrayal of Joan defies the law of averages, since, after seeing Siobhan McKenna in the 1955 Arts Theatre production, I reckoned it impossible to equal within half a century. Like the Irish girl, the Welsh girl is perfect . . . 'This girl doesn't act Joan - she is Joan.' In short, perfection."[28]
She was Julia in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1960-1961 version of The Duchess of Malfi.[29] Her Royal Shakespeare Company performances are:
Her long career has included many films and television programmes, but she is probably 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 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 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 novels of the same names; 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). In 2001, she appeared 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 plays Lady James.
Phillips's West End credits include Pal Joey, Gigi, A Little Night Music, and Marlene, in which she portrayed Marlene Dietrich. She has also appeared on the American stage in Marlene.
Her National Theatre performances have included:
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 on 31 May/1 June 2007. 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 until 24 April 2010.[32]
In June 2000 she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. She is also a leading light in Social, Welsh and Sexy (SWS), the London-based organisation for Welsh socialites.
Phillips' first husband was Don Roy, a post-graduate student at the University of Wales. They were married in 1956 and divorced in 1959. In 2001 he was an emeritus professor of drama in an English university.[33][34]
Peter O'Toole was her second husband. They were married in December 1959 (when she was already pregnant with their first child) and they had two daughters: Kate, born 1960 and Patricia, born 1963.[35] Pat is a theatre practitioner,[36] and Kate is an actress. The couple divorced in 1979, and Phillips wrote about this tempestuous period of her life in the second volume of her autobiography, Public Places.
Her third husband was actor Robin Sachs, who was 17 years her junior. Their relationship began in 1975. They were married Christmas Eve of 1979, very shortly after the divorce with O'Toole. This third marriage ended in 1991. [37]
She is a patron of the Bird College of Dance, Music & Theatre Performance, based in Sidcup, Kent.
Her two volume autobiography - Private Faces and Public Places - were published in 1999 and 2001, respectively.[38]
Since 2005, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Cymru (BAFTA in Wales) has presented the Tlws Sian Phillips Award to a Welshman or woman who has made a significant contribution in either a major feature film or network television programme.[39][40][41]
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