Betty Phillips

Born: 1917-06-12

In her mid-teens she sang leading roles in musicals at Richmond High School and also sang in a girls' choir organized by Burton Kurth; in the early 1940s she studied voice with in turn Mignon Duke Gidy, Avis Phillips, and Phylis Inglis and piano with Phyllis Schuldt. She appeared at TUTS for the first time in a 1946 production of Robin Hood and subsequently played leads in more than 20 TUTS productions until 1960; she is best remembered for the role of Mrs. Anna in The King and I. Phillips' radio career began in 1948 with a CBC Vancouver light classical series and has included regular appearances 1953-65 on the CBC's 'Leicester Square to Broadway'; variety work in 1955 on the BBC; solo, recital, and folksong performances on the CBC; and many British Columbia school broadcasts 1970-2. On CBC TV she sang Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus in 1954, co-starred 1956-7 with Ernie Prentice on 'Lolly-too-dum,' and was hostess 1965-7 for 'Bazaar.' Phillips has performed at the Vancouver International Festival and with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in Vancouver Opera productions (Flora in La Traviata, 1961; Nicklausse in Tales of Hoffmann, 1961; Clotilde in Norma, 1963; Vera Boronell in The Consul, 1964; Zulma in The Italian Girl in Algiers, 1965; and the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, 1966). She has performed in musical comedy throughout Canada - on tour (1967) with One Hundred Years of Musical Comedy, at the 1968 and 1969 Charlottetown Festival; in Anne of Green Gables and Johnny Belinda, and at Winnipeg's Rainbow Stage in Fiddler on the Roof (1971). She sang locally in Theatre-in-the-Park productions of The Sound of Music (1974) and Fiddler on the Roof (1975), while studying 1972-6 at the University of British Columbia. As an actress she has played many roles at Bastion Theatre, Victoria, and the Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver, and has also appeared at Persephone Theatre, Saskatoon and at Citadel Theatre, Edmonton. In the first Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Co season (1963) she appeared as Madame Dubonnet in The Boy Friend and has continued to act for that company over the years. She has been in over 40 Canadian and US movies, some of them feature films and the others made for television. In 1962, Phillips married the actor, writer, and librettist Peter Haworth, who has collaborated with Leonard Wilson, Healey Willan, and the English composer Robert Simpson.


Don't See
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as Elderly Driver
Released: 2009-10-10

Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth...

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Don't See
as Mrs. Evesham
Released: 2011-03-25

Wimpy Greg Heffley, now in seventh grade, thinks he has it all together. He has mastered middle...

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See!

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

as Cat Lady
Released: 2010-07-29

The ongoing war between the canine and feline species is put on hold when they join forces to...

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Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain

as Mysterious Woman
Released: 1995-11-03

Two teen girls, one from the city, one from the country, try to find the hidden gold of Bear...

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Intersection

as Edwina
Released: 1994-01-21

During a car accident, Vincent Eastman watches his whole life flash before his eyes, and he...

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Short Time

as Clerk
Released: 1990-05-04

As a result of a misdiagnosis, Detective Burt Simpson is told he has just weeks to live. He...

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Housekeeping

as Mrs. Jardine
Released: 1987-11-25

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them...

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Shame

as Norma Curtis
Released: 1992-08-18

A tough female lawyer on holiday ends up in a small Pacific Northwest town where she befriends a...

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Bratz: Super Babyz

as Gran (voice)
Released: 2007-10-09

After visiting an amusement park, the Bratz babies encounter a potato-like alien species and...

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Showdown at Williams Creek

as uncredited
Released: 1991-10-31

True story of a former British soldier on trial for murder in the 19th century Northwest.

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And the Sea Will Tell

as Juror #1
Released: 1991-02-24

A wealthy couple (James Brolin and Deidre Hall) are killed on their yacht off the coast of a...

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Jack Reed: One of Our Own

as Mary Quinn
Released: 1995-04-25

Jack Reed investigates a young woman whom he and his wife take into their household when she...

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The Three Wishes of Billy Grier

as Mary Whitelaw
Released: 1984-10-31

A teenager must cope with a disease that causes himself to age at an astronomical rate.

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I Was a Teenage Faust

as Grammy
Released: 2002-06-01

15 year old Brendan Willy hates himself for being un-cool when he falls in love with the girl of...

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I Love You Perfect

as Landlord
Released: 1989-10-08

A woman, her lover and her best friend cope with the tragedy of her misdiagnosed medical condition.

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The Secret Lives of Second Wives

as Moira
Released: 2008-06-28

Lynn Hughes finds that marriage the second time around is far from idyllic when the ex wife and...

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Nobody's Child

as Mother Superior
Released: 1986-04-05

Fact-based drama about the life of Marie Balter, who spent most of her young life in mental...

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Bratz Babyz Save Christmas

as Gran (voice)
Released: 2008-11-05

The Babyz learn to turn disappointment into the wildest, craziest Xmas ever when their parents...

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MacGyver

as Mrs. Delaney
First aired: 1985-09-29

He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a...

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21 Jump Street

as Gramma Bessie
First aired: 1987-04-12

21 Jump Street revolves around a group of young cops who would use their youthful appearance to...

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21 Jump Street

as Ms. Clopshaw
First aired: 1987-04-12

21 Jump Street revolves around a group of young cops who would use their youthful appearance to...

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The Outer Limits

as Sylvia Walker
First aired: 1995-03-26

Anthology series of composed of distinct story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end,...

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The Dead Zone

as uncredited
First aired: 2002-06-16

Johnny Smith discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma.

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Millennium

as uncredited
First aired: 1996-10-25

A retired FBI serial-profiler joins the mysterious Millennium Group, a team of underground...

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So Weird

as Astrid
First aired: 1999-01-18

Fourteen-year-old Fi Phillips investigates the paranormal while touring the country in a bus...

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The Commish

as uncredited
First aired: 1991-09-28

Tony Scali is a former Brooklyn cop now the Police Commissioner of a small upstate city. But for...

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The New Addams Family

as Granmama Addam
First aired: 1998-10-19

The New Addams Family is an American-Canadian sitcom that aired from October 1998 to August 1999...

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The Adventures of the Black Stallion

as uncredited
First aired: 1992-01-05

The Adventures of The Black Stallion is a television series that was loosely based on the movies...

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The Collector

as uncredited
First aired: 2004-06-02

The Collector is a Canadian supernatural drama television series about a man attempting to help...

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The Odyssey

as Sylvia Ziegler
First aired: 1992-03-09

The Odyssey is a Canadian-produced half-hour adventure-fantasy television series for children,...

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