Brian Blessed
Biography
Brian Blessed OBE ( born 9 October 1936) is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive bushy beard, booming voice, and exuberant personality and performances. He portrayed PC "Fancy" Smith in Z-Cars; Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of I, Claudius; King Richard IV in the first series of Blackadder; Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon; Bustopher Jones and Old Deuteronomy in the 1981 original London production of Cats at the New London Theatre; Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, in Henry V; Boss Nass in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace; and the voice of Clayton and the Tarzan yell in Disney's Tarzan. In 2016, Blessed was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts and charity. Blessed was born on 9 October 1936 at Montagu Hospital in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of William Blessed, a socialist coal miner at Hickleton Main Colliery (and himself the son of a coal miner) and cricketer for the Yorkshire second team, and Hilda (née Wall). He had a brother Alan, seven years younger, and the pair "went everywhere together" when they were growing up. Alan Blessed died from leukaemia aged 52; their mother died aged 87, and their father died aged 99. Blessed's great-great-grandfather, Jabez Blessed, was the father of 13 children and worked as a china and glass dealer in Brigg, Lincolnshire; many of Blessed's relatives hail from Brigg. Blessed went to Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School, and completed his national service in the RAF, in Bicester, before enrolling at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1956.
Known For
Self
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Father Gabriel Norton
Devil's Harvest
Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Hamlet
Prince Vultan
Flash Gordon
Exeter
Henry V
Trevor Pilkington
Back in Business
Lord Locksley
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Antonio
Much Ado About Nothing
Dr. Tom Bowen
Into Infinity
Narrator (voice)
A Christmas Carol
Voice of Rossini
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
Korski
The Last Valley
Sergeant
Till Death Us Do Part
Clayton (voice)
Tarzan
Will
Wine of India
Talthybius
The Trojan Women
Lucifer Bounder
The Mumbo Jumbo
Mentor
Cosmic Princess
Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin
Das Konklave
Bestuzhev
Catherine the Great
Atticus
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
Sam
The Castle of Adventure
Suffolk
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
The Pirate King (voice)
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Self
The Dark Side of Everest
Self
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
Mr. Carksdale
Exam Conditions
Cluny MacPherson
Kidnapped
El Supremo (voice)
Freddie as F.R.O.7.
Jack Baird
Brotherly Love
Captain Teach
The Master of Ballantrae
Self
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Narrator
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
Old Deuteronomy
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
Gen. Gonse
Prisoner of Honor
The Voice (voice)
The Seventeenth Kind
Edward the Confessor
Macbeth
Judge Jawbreaker (voice)
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
Suleman Khan
High Road to China
George Mallory/Self
Galahad of Everest
Pedro
Man of La Mancha
Edward I
The Bruce
Narrator
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
Lord Francisco del Ruiz
Day of Wrath
Boss Nass (voice)
Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
Boss Nass (voice)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
Self
Genius: Pythagoras
Narrator
The Old Man Of The Mountain
Mr. Scottley
The Greatest Store in the World
Self
Tales of Television Centre
Reg Sugden
The Double Agent
Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
The Eagle Has Landed
Mark of Cornwall
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
The Christmas Tree
Self
Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
Chazov
Back in the USSR
Chatillon
De terre et de sang
Wrestling Trainer
Alexander
King Lear
King Lear
Mr. Bojagi
Mr. Bojagi
Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Peppa's Cinema Party
Maj. Elliot
Chasing the Deer
The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
As You Like It
The Pirate King
So You Want To Be A Pirate!
Geoffrey Lyons
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Sir Gregory
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
Narrator (voice)
Shed of the Dead
Self
Life After Flash
Narrator
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
Friar Tuck
Robin Hood: The Rebellion
Gaius Valerius (voice)
David Macaulay: Roman City
Ankhaf (voice)
David Macaulay: Pyramid
Voice
David Macaulay: Castle
Master Guillaume (voice)
David Macaulay: Cathedral
Wild Boar (voice)
The Legend of the Tamworth Two
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
Space Lord
Eugenius!
Self
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
Charlemagne (voice)
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
King Yrcanos
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
Narrator
Dear Mr. Burton
Det Sgt George Briggs
A Midsummer Nightmare
Self
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
Peter
Son of Man
Boris Goudphater (voice)
Agent Crush
Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
Cabot / Wolstan / Pocock / Colston / Pope Gregory / Dr. Beddoes
The Bristol Entertainment
Gavin the Octopus (voice)
Time Travel Is Dangerous!
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
90
Gender
Male
Birthday
1936-10-09
Place of Birth
Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
Also Known As
B. Blessed