
Acting
Born October 9, 1936 · Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
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.

Time Travel Is Dangerous!
2025

Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
2024

Peppa's Cinema Party
2024

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022

Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
2022

The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
2022

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
2021

Dear Mr. Burton
2020

Eugenius!
2020

Shed of the Dead
2019

Robin Hood: The Rebellion
2018

Life After Flash
2017

Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
2015

Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
2014

The Seventeenth Kind
2014

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
2014

LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
2012

So You Want To Be A Pirate!
2012

Tales of Television Centre
2012

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
2012
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
2011
Mr. Bojagi
2010

Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
2008

The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
2008

Agent Crush
2008

Back in Business
2007

The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007

The Conclave
2006

As You Like It
2006

Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
2006

Day of Wrath
2006

Mist: The Story of a Sheepdog Puppy
2005
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005

448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
2004

Alexander
2004

The Legend of the Tamworth Two
2004

Devil's Harvest
2003

The Dark Side of Everest
2003

I, Claudius: A Television Epic
2002

The Mumbo Jumbo
2000

The Greatest Store in the World
1999

Tarzan
1999

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
1999

King Lear
1999

Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998

Macbeth
1997

Hamlet
1996

Catherine the Great
1996

The Bruce
1996

Genius: Pythagoras
1996

Kidnapped
1995

The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
1995

Chasing the Deer
1994

MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
1994

David Macaulay: Roman City
1994

Much Ado About Nothing
1993

Blood and Dust
1992

Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992
Exam Conditions
1992

Back in the USSR
1992
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
1992

Galahad of Everest
1991

Prisoner of Honor
1991

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991
The Castle of Adventure
1990

Henry V
1989

David Macaulay: Pyramid
1989
The Old Man Of The Mountain
1989

Doctor Who: Mindwarp
1986

David Macaulay: Cathedral
1986

Blake's 7: The Beginning
1985

The Master of Ballantrae
1984

The Hound of the Baskervilles
1983

High Road to China
1983

David Macaulay: Castle
1983

Cosmic Princess
1982

Flash Gordon
1980

Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
1979

A Christmas Carol
1977

The Eagle Has Landed
1976

Into Infinity
1975

A Midsummer Nightmare
1975

King Arthur, the Young Warlord
1975

Man of La Mancha
1972

Henry VIII and His Six Wives
1972
The Bristol Entertainment
1971

The Trojan Women
1971

The Last Valley
1971
Wine of India
1970

Brotherly Love
1970
The Double Agent
1969
Son of Man
1969

Till Death Us Do Part
1969

The Christmas Tree
1966