Brian Blessed
Acting
🎂 1936-10-09
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.
Cast credits(169)
Prince Vultan (voice)
1999
Self - Presenter
Santa Claus (voice)
2011
King Yrcanos
1963
Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2004
PC Smith
1962
PC Fancy Smith
1962
PC William "Fancy" Smith
1962
Self
2007
Self
2003
Sergeant Hearn
1961
Mark Dayton
1961
Self – Actor
2022
Self - Narrator
2007
Self
1995
Sgt. Kite
1965
1983
Self - Host
1990
Peter
1964
Freddie Dyer
1979
Self
2004
2004
Mentor
1975
Cabot Rowland
1975
King Richard IV
1983
Self
1993
1998
Detective Sergeant Jack Nolan
1979
Captain (voice)
1996
Rev. William Pratt
1965
Santa Claus (voice)
2015
Santa Claus
1993
Sir Jack Kleghorn (voice)
2020
Frank Kemble
1975
Tiger Lawson
1971
1976
Augustus
1976
Eddie Barnaby
1965
Self - Participant
2011
Self
2002
Self
1991
Announcer (voice)
2010
Shouty Shirt (Voice)
2022
2008
Det Sgt George Briggs
1973
Hubert Innes
1968
Basileos
1979
Porthos
1967
Harry Catapodis
1986
Squire Western
1997
Captain Teach
1951
Porthos
1966
Mark of Cornwall
1972
The Nekross King (voice)
2012
Self - Panellist
2021
William Woodcock
1974
Father Christmas
2011
Himself - Presenter
2007
Clayton (voice)
1999
Boss Nass (voice)
1999
Reuben Starkadder
1968
Long John Silver
1986
Brod
1975
Wrestling Trainer
2004
Jim Lawsey
1969
Self
2017
Vargas
1978
Lord Locksley
1991
Self
1982
1972
Peppone
1981
2001
Spiro
1987
1974
2008
GTV Announcer
2010
Charlemagne (voice)
2021
2000
Prince Vultan
1980
Antonio
1993
Stickers
1995
Ghost of Hamlet's Father
1996
The Pirate King (voice)
2012
Exeter
1989
Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
1976
Self
2017
Self
2014
Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
2006
Olinthus
1984
Self
1998
Pedro
1972
Sir Edward Fawcett
2003
Judge Jawbreaker (voice)
2014
Ankhaf (voice)
1989
1988
Dr. Tom Bowen
1975
Friar Tuck
2018
Boss Nass (voice)
2012
Lord Francisco del Ruiz
2006
Suleman Khan
1983
Korski
1971
Talthybius
1971
Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin
2007
Geoffrey Lyons
1983
Bestuzhev
1996
Suffolk
1972
Mentor
1982
Narrator (voice)
2019
Self
2022
Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2015
The Pirate King
2012
El Supremo (voice)
1992
Master Guillaume (voice)
1986
Captain Teach
1984
Self
2008
Trevor Pilkington
2007
Lucifer Bounder
2000
Atticus
1994
Cluny MacPherson
1995
Narrator (voice)
1977
Peter
1969
Mr. Scottley
1999
Mark of Cornwall
1975
Self
2007
Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2024
Chazov
1992
Self
2003
1995
King Lear
1999
Dr. Tom Bowen
1975
Space Lord
2020
King Yrcanos
1986
Father Gabriel Norton
2003
Gen. Gonse
1991
Edward the Confessor
1997
Gaius Valerius (voice)
1994
Chatillon
1992
Maj. Elliot
1994
Self
2022
Boris Goudphater (voice)
2008
Old Deuteronomy
1998
Edward I
1996
Voice of Rossini
1992
Sergeant
1969
Narrator
2011
The Voice (voice)
2014
Self
2002
Jack Baird
1970
Sam
1990
2008
Will
1970
Sir Gregory
2006
Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2024
Voice
1983
Narrator
2020
Det Sgt George Briggs
1975
Wild Boar (voice)
2004
Mr. Bojagi
2010
Self
2012
Self
2014
Narrator
2004
Self
1996
Narrator
2022
1966
Reg Sugden
1969
George Mallory/Self
1991
Cabot, Wolstan, Pocock, Colston, Pope Gregory, Dr. Beddoes
1971
Mr. Carksdale
1992
Narrator
1989