Sian Phillips on her turbulent marriage to Peter O’Toole: ‘He would get drunk in order to do the damage’

The actors, who had two daughters together, were married for 20 years from 1959 to 1979

Dame Sian Phillips, the star of I, Claudius and the original Dune adaptation, has opened up about her turbulent marriage to fellow actor Peter O’Toole.

The 90-year-old Welsh actor, who won a Bafta for her performance as the murderous empress Livia in the 1976 BBC miniseries I, Claudius, was married to Lawrence of Arabia star O’Toole from 1959 to 1979.

She spoke candidly about their volatile relationship in an interview with The Telegraph, ahead of the release of the documentary Sian Phillips at 90, which aired last night (29 December) on Welsh channel S4C and BBC iPlayer.

Phillips revealed that O’Toole insisted she stay at home after their first daughter, Kate, was born in 1960 – a demand that stunted her career. He was also apparently consumed by sexual jealousy and would call her “disgraceful” and “immoral” because of her previous relationships.

He had problems with alcohol, with Phillips recalling: “I realised from the beginning he drank a lot. But everyone drank a lot back then. I didn’t realise it was a problem until way later.”

When asked if O’Toole ever hurt her, she said: “No, but I did feel scared once or twice. I could see he held it back. He would destroy things rather than people. Break things. I minded that dreadfully, because, since I couldn’t work, I worked hard on the house to make it beautiful.

“Occasionally, if I had done a show, because I had managed to have a few accidental successes, he could see that it was not smart to be jealous. So he would get drunk in order to do the damage. Then the next morning he would say: ‘Did I do anything awful? Was I very bad last night?’ Because he couldn’t say it sober.”

Sian Phillips and Peter O’Toole (Getty)

O’Toole – one of the most famous screen and stage actors of the time – was known for his drunken exploits, but because he was so charismatic, he always got away with it.

Phillips recalled how one night the police rang her to say they had picked him up in Bristol. “He’d driven his car into a van full of sleeping policemen. But they said to me, ‘Don’t worry. No one need ever know,’” she said.

On eventually leaving O’Toole – who died in 2013 – she said: “I’d missed that golden period in an actress’s career but I was not bitter. He stopped me from playing parts that would have altered my life. But then he was probably right that if I had taken them, it would have ruined ours.”

In 1979, Phillips married the actor Robin Sachs. They divorced in 1991. “I think on the whole, marriage is not for me,” she said in the interview.

This year, Phillips has appeared in the TV shows Good Omens and The Chelsea Detective. Next year, she is planning on appearing in a short film and a play.