Happy 92nd Birthday to Dame Siân Phillips!

I adore Early English Perpendicular.

Christ, she was old in "I, Claudius" already. Good for her for hanging around.

R2 She was 42/43 when she made "I, Claudius" so no, not that old.

Seventies TV videography is not kind...no one looks good in close up under those lights on videotape.

"Lost your stutter, too, I see."

Siân's gonna be the witness.

The ultimate test of cerebral fitness!

She set the gold standard for female villains in historical dramas. ☠️

Glad she won the BAFTA for Best Actress as well as the Royal Television Society Award.

R6 I'm glad too but also annoyed she and the rest of the cast were ignored by the Emmys. I, Claudius did get a couple nominations but none for the actors. Prior to that year, in the early 70s, lots of British actors got nominations and wins for British shows shown on PBS but it really stopped happening for several years. Not sure if they changed rules or if no one was putting on campaigns to get nominations. Still...a shame. It would have been great to see her, Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Margaret Tyzack get some attention.

Place your hand in the box

R7, yes, it would have been good to see Emmy nominations for the cast. Wasn't 'I, Claudius' up against a Holocaust mini-series at the time, which ended up winning most of the Emmys that year?

Derek Jacobi did win the BAFTA though, as did Phillips.

John Hurt would be nominated for 2 Oscars in the years following so at least it worked out well for him, as Barbara Bush would say.