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Phyllis Curtin (née Smith, on December 3, 1921) is an American soprano.

Curtin was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia and studied at Wellesley College and the New England Conservatory. She made her operatic debut as Lisa in The Queen of Spades with the New England Opera in 1946. She became a star of the New York City Opera, from 1953 and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961. She also appeared at the Teatro alla Scala and the Teatro Colón. She retired from singing in 1984.

Unfortunately, she is probably best known for a role she didn't sing. In 1966, after Julius Rudel promised her the role of Cleopatra in "Giulio Cesare", Beverly Sills, who has always been known as a fierce competitor stole the role that made her a superstar from Curtin. Sills persuaded Rudel, then the City Opera's general director, into giving her the role by threatening to quit and use her wealthy husband's money to rent Carnegie Hall and perform all of Cleopatra's arias.

Curtin was known for her creation of new roles (such as Susannah in the opera of the same name) and for her dedication to song recitals. She taught at Yale University and is Artistic Advisor at the Boston University School of Music, where she held a Deanship of the Arts, as well as at the Tanglewood Music Center.

In 1995, VAI released, on Compact Discs, the 1962 performance of Susannah, from New Orleans, which co-starred Norman Treigle and Richard Cassilly. In 1988, Kultur published a video-cassette of "The Bell Telephone Hour" program from 1968, entitled "Opera: Two to Six". Curtin is seen in staged excerpts from Faust and Die Meistersinger, and her colleagues in the telecast included Dame Joan Sutherland, Tito Gobbi, Nicolai Gedda, Jerome Hines, Mildred Miller and Charles Anthony.

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