Brian Blessed
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.
Directed (1)
Acting (94)
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