Editing Siân Phillips (section)

==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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/495359/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Phillips, Siân (1933-) Biography|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/sian-phillips/|title=BBC - Wales - Arts - Sian Phillips - Sian Phillips|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> She is a [[Welsh language|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.<ref>Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008.</ref><ref name=":0">"Sian Phillips" BBC:Wales Arts at www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2011.</ref>

Phillips attended [[Pontardawe]] Grammar School and originally was known there as Jane, but her Welsh teacher called her Siân, the Welsh form of Jane.<ref name=":1">"Sian Phillips: Stage and Screen Actress" at www.terrynorm.ic24.net. Retrieved 12 December 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://drmyronevans.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/the-actress-sian-phillips |title=The Actress Siân Phillips |author=Dr Myron Evans |date=25 August 2011 |access-date=18 January 2013}}</ref> 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]].<ref>Jenny Gilbert, "How We Met: Diana Rigg and Valerie Solti" ''The Independent'' (6 September 1998). Retrieved at www.independent.co.uk, 13 December 2011.</ref><ref name="auto">"Sian Phillips" in Turner Classic Movies at www.tcm.com. Retrieved 13 December 2011</ref> She won the Bancroft Gold Medal for ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'' and was offered work in Hollywood when she left RADA.<ref name="auto1">"Phillips, Siân (1933–)" in BFI Screenonline at www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2011.</ref> 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.<ref name=":2">"Wales Video Gallery: Sian Phillips" (video interview) at [walesvideogallery.org] Retrieved 18 December 2011.</ref>