Brian Blessed
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1936-10-09 (88 years old)
Place of Birth
Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
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
Acting
(2024)
Peppa's Cinema Party
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
(2024)
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
(2022)
(2022)
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
as Narrator
(2022)
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
as Self
(2021)
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Charlemagne (voice)
(2020)
Eugenius!
as Space Lord
(2020)
Dear Mr. Burton
as Narrator
(2019)
Shed of the Dead
as Narrator (voice)
(2018)
Robin Hood: The Rebellion
as Friar Tuck
(2017)
Life After Flash
as Self
(2015)
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
(2014)
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
as Judge Jawbreaker (voice)
(2014)
The Seventeenth Kind
as The Voice (voice)
(2014)
(2012)
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
as The Pirate King (voice)
(2012)
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
as Boss Nass (voice)
(2012)
So You Want To Be A Pirate!
as The Pirate King
(2012)
Tales of Television Centre
as Self
(2011)
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
as Narrator
(2010)
Mr. Bojagi
as Mr. Bojagi
(2008)
Agent Crush
as Boris Goudphater (voice)
(2008)
(2008)
(2007)
The Conclave
as Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin
(2007)
(2007)
Back in Business
as Trevor Pilkington
(2006)
As You Like It
as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
(2006)
Day of Wrath
as Lord Francisco del Ruiz
(2006)
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
as Sir Gregory
(2004)
Alexander
as Wrestling Trainer
(2004)
The Legend of the Tamworth Two
as Wild Boar (voice)
(2004)
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
as Narrator
(2003)
Devil's Harvest
as Father Gabriel Norton
(2003)
The Dark Side of Everest
as Self
(2002)
(2000)
The Mumbo Jumbo
as Lucifer Bounder
(1999)
Tarzan
as Clayton (voice)
(1999)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
as Boss Nass (voice)
(1999)
The Greatest Store in the World
as Mr. Scottley
(1999)
King Lear
as King Lear
(1998)
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
as Old Deuteronomy
(1997)
Macbeth
as Edward the Confessor
(1996)
Hamlet
as Ghost of Hamlet's Father
(1996)
Catherine the Great
as Bestuzhev
(1996)
The Bruce
as Edward I
(1996)
Genius: Pythagoras
as Self
(1995)
Kidnapped
as Cluny MacPherson
(1995)
(1994)
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
as Atticus
(1994)
David Macaulay: Roman City
as Gaius Valerius (voice)
(1994)
Chasing the Deer
as Maj. Elliot
(1993)
Much Ado About Nothing
as Antonio
(1992)
Freddie as F.R.O.7.
as El Supremo (voice)
(1992)
Back in the USSR
as Chazov
(1992)
Exam Conditions
as Mr. Carksdale
(1992)
Blood and Dust
as Chatillon
(1992)
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
as Voice of Rossini
(1991)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
as Lord Locksley
(1991)
Prisoner of Honor
as Gen. Gonse
(1991)
Galahad of Everest
as George Mallory/Self
(1990)
The Castle of Adventure
as Sam
(1989)
Henry V
as Exeter
(1989)
David Macaulay: Pyramid
as Ankhaf (voice)
(1989)
The Old Man Of The Mountain
as Narrator
(1986)
David Macaulay: Cathedral
as Master Guillaume (voice)
(1986)
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
as King Yrcanos
(1984)
The Master of Ballantrae
as Captain Teach
(1983)
High Road to China
as Suleman Khan
(1983)
The Hound of the Baskervilles
as Geoffrey Lyons
(1983)
David Macaulay: Castle
as Voice
(1982)
Cosmic Princess
as Mentor
(1980)
Flash Gordon
as Prince Vultan
(1977)
A Christmas Carol
as Narrator (voice)
(1976)
The Eagle Has Landed
as Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
(1975)
Into Infinity
as Dr. Tom Bowen
(1975)
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
as Mark of Cornwall
(1975)
A Midsummer Nightmare
as Det Sgt George Briggs
(1972)
Man of La Mancha
as Pedro
(1972)
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
as Suffolk
(1971)
The Last Valley
as Korski
(1971)
The Trojan Women
as Talthybius
(1970)
Brotherly Love
as Jack Baird
(1970)
Wine of India
as Will
(1969)
Till Death Us Do Part
as Sergeant
(1969)
Son of Man
as Peter
(1969)
The Double Agent
as Reg Sugden
(1966)
Crew
(1999)
King Lear
Director