
Brian Blessed
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- October 9, 1936 (age 90)
- Birthplace
- Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
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
Filmography

Have I Got a Bit More News for You
TV · as Self - Presenter · 2 eps

Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs
Movie · as Arthur (voice)

Space: 1999 4K Double Bill - Breakaway and The Metamorph
Movie · as Mentor

Time Travel Is Dangerous!
Movie · as Gavin the Octopus (voice)

Peppa's Cinema Party
Movie · as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
Movie · as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
Movie · as Self

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Movie · as Self

Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
Movie · as Narrator

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
TV · as Self – Actor · 1 ep

Best & Bester
TV · as Shouty Shirt (Voice) · 52 eps

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
Movie · as Charlemagne (voice)

Peter O'Toole Réalta & Rógaire
Movie · as Self

Blankety Blank
TV · as Self - Panellist · 1 ep

Eugenius!
Movie · as Space Lord

Dear Mr. Burton
Movie · as Narrator

Close Enough
TV · as Sir Jack Kleghorn (voice) · 1 ep

Shed of the Dead
Movie · as Narrator (voice)

Robin Hood: The Rebellion
Movie · as Friar Tuck

Eric and the Barbarian
Movie · as Odin

Life After Flash
Movie · as Self

The Russell Howard Hour
TV · as Self · 1 ep

Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
Movie · as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

Danger Mouse
TV · as Santa Claus (voice) · 1 ep

The Seventeenth Kind
Movie · as The Voice (voice)

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
Movie · as Judge Jawbreaker (voice)

Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
Movie · as Self
The Kumars
TV · as Self · 1 ep

Was It Something I Said?
TV · as Self - Narrator · 1 ep

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Movie · as The Pirate King (voice)

LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
Movie · as Boss Nass (voice)

Tales of Television Centre
Movie · as Self

So You Want To Be A Pirate!
Movie · as The Pirate King

Wizards vs Aliens
TV · as The Nekross King (voice) · 36 eps
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
Movie · as Narrator

Sooty
TV · as Father Christmas · 1 ep

The Amazing World of Gumball
TV · as Santa Claus (voice) · 1 ep

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
TV · as Self - Participant · 1 ep
Mr. Bojagi
Movie · as Mr. Bojagi
Fee Fi Fo Yum
TV · as GTV Announcer · 1 ep

Take Me Out
TV · as Announcer (voice) · 9 eps
In Confidence
TV · 1 ep

The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
Movie

Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
Movie · as Self

Agent Crush
Movie · as Boris Goudphater (voice)
The Underdog Show
TV · 10 eps

All Star Mr & Mrs
TV · 1 ep

The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Movie · as Self

Back in Business
Movie · as Trevor Pilkington

Britain's Got More Talent
TV · as Self - Narrator · 17 eps

Would I Lie to You?
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Saving Planet Earth UK
TV · as Himself - Presenter · 1 ep

The Conclave
Movie · as Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin

Day of Wrath
Movie · as Lord Francisco del Ruiz

As You Like It
Movie · as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick

Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
Movie · as Sir Gregory (voice)

Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
Movie · as Sir Gregory(voice)
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
Movie · as King Richard IV (archive footage) (uncredited)

Alexander
Movie · as Wrestling Trainer

448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
Movie · as Narrator

The Legend of the Tamworth Two
Movie · as Wild Boar (voice)

The Paul O'Grady Show
TV · 1 ep

Peppa Pig
TV · as Grampy Rabbit (voice) · 388 eps

Who Do You Think You Are?
TV · as Self · 1 ep

小猪佩奇国语版
TV · as Grampy Rabbit (voice) · 394 eps

Devil's Harvest
Movie · as Father Gabriel Norton

The Dark Side of Everest
Movie · as Self

The Royal
TV · as Sir Edward Fawcett · 1 ep

QI
TV · as Self · 1 ep

I, Claudius: A Television Epic
Movie · as Self

The Making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Movie · as Self - Actor

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Fun at the Funeral Parlour
TV · 1 ep
I Love 1980's
TV · 1 ep

The Mumbo Jumbo
Movie · as Lucifer Bounder

The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
TV · 2 eps

Tarzan
Movie · as Clayton (voice)

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Movie · as Boss Nass (voice)

The Greatest Store in the World
Movie · as Mr. Scottley

King Lear
Movie · as King Lear

Family Guy
TV · as Prince Vultan (voice) · 1 ep

The Big Knights
TV · as Sir Morris (voice) · 13 eps

Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
Movie · as Old Deuteronomy
The Heaven and Earth Show
TV · 1 ep
Fantasy World Cup
TV · as Self · 1 ep

Macbeth
Movie · as Edward the Confessor

The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling
TV · as Squire Western · 5 eps

Hamlet
Movie · as Ghost of Hamlet's Father

Catherine the Great
Movie · as Bestuzhev

The Bruce
Movie · as Edward I

Genius: Pythagoras
Movie · as Self

Summit Fever
Movie · as Self

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
TV · as Captain (voice) · 1 ep

Kidnapped
Movie · as Cluny MacPherson

The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
Movie

Soccer AM
TV · as Self · 1 ep

Johnny and the Dead
TV · as William Stickers · 4 eps

MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
Movie · as Atticus

Chasing the Deer
Movie · as Maj. Elliot

David Macaulay: Roman City
Movie · as Gaius Valerius (voice)

Much Ado About Nothing
Movie · as Antonio

GMTV
TV · as Self · 1 ep

Sooty & Co.
TV · as Santa Claus · 1 ep

Lady Chatterley
TV · as Petty Officer · 1 ep

Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
Movie · as Voice of Rossini
Exam Conditions
Movie · as Mr. Carksdale

Freddie As F.R.O.7.
Movie · as El Supremo (voice)

Back in the USSR
Movie · as Chazov

Blood and Dust
Movie · as Chatillon

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Movie · as Lord Locksley

Prisoner of Honor
Movie · as Gen. Gonse

Galahad of Everest
Movie · as George Mallory/Self
Pebble Mill
TV · as Self · 2 eps
The Castle of Adventure
Movie · as Sam

Have I Got News for You
TV · as Self - Host · 2 eps

The Castle of Adventure
TV · as Sam · 8 eps

Henry V
Movie · as Exeter
The Old Man Of The Mountain
Movie · as Narrator

David Macaulay: Pyramid
Movie · as Ankhaf (voice)
A Question of Entertainment
TV · 1 ep

War and Remembrance
TV · as Yevlenko · 1 ep

Comic Relief
TV · 1 ep

My Family and Other Animals
TV · as Spiro · 10 eps

The Gnostics
TV · as Guilhabert De Castres · 4 eps

Crossbow
TV · 3 eps

David Macaulay: Cathedral
Movie · as Master Guillaume (voice)

Doctor Who: Mindwarp
Movie · as King Yrcanos

Lovejoy
TV · as Harry Catapodis · 2 eps

John Silver's Return to Treasure Island
TV · as Long John Silver · 10 eps

Boon
TV · as Lambert Sampson · 1 ep

Blake's 7: The Beginning
Movie · as Vargas

The Master of Ballantrae
Movie · as Captain Teach

The Last Days of Pompeii
TV · as Olinthus · 3 eps

High Road to China
Movie · as Suleman Khan

The Hound of the Baskervilles
Movie · as Geoffrey Lyons

David Macaulay: Castle
Movie · as Voice

Blackadder
TV · as King Richard IV · 6 eps

Natural World
TV · 1 ep

Cosmic Princess
Movie · as Mentor

The Kenny Everett Television Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Little World of Don Camillo
TV · as Peppone · 13 eps

Flash Gordon
Movie · as Prince Vultan

Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
Movie · as Detective Jack Noonan

Tales of the Unexpected
TV · as Detective Sergeant Jack Nolan · 1 ep

Minder
TV · as Freddie Dyer · 1 ep

The Aphrodite Inheritance
TV · as Basileos · 8 eps

Blake's 7
TV · as Vargas · 1 ep

A Christmas Carol
Movie · as Narrator (voice)

The Eagle Has Landed
Movie · as Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)

I, Claudius
TV · as Augustus · 5 eps

Nobody's House
TV · as Jack Treadful · 1 ep

The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity
Movie · as Dr. Tom Bowen

King Arthur, the Young Warlord
Movie · as Mark of Cornwall

A Midsummer Nightmare
Movie · as Det Sgt George Briggs

The Sweeney
TV · as Frank Kemble · 1 ep

Survivors
TV · as Brod · 1 ep
The Day After Tomorrow
TV · as Dr. Tom Bowen · 1 ep

Space: 1999
TV · as Mentor, Cabot Rowland · 1 ep

Boy Dominic
TV · as William Woodcock · 13 eps

Churchill's People
TV · as Guthrum · 1 ep

Notorious Woman
TV · as Albert Grzymala · 3 eps

Thriller
TV · as Det Sgt George Briggs · 1 ep
European Heritage
TV · as Narrator (voice) · 1 ep

Henry VIII and His Six Wives
Movie · as Suffolk

Man of La Mancha
Movie · as Pedro

Shirley's World
TV · 1 ep

Arthur of the Britons
TV · as Mark of Cornwall · 2 eps

The Last Valley
Movie · as Korski

The Trojan Women
Movie · as Talthybius
The Bristol Entertainment
Movie · as Cabot / Wolstan / Pocock / Colston / Pope Gregory / Dr. Beddoes

Justice
TV · as Tiger Lawson · 1 ep
Wine of India
Movie · as Will

Brotherly Love
Movie · as Jack Baird

Till Death Us Do Part
Movie · as Sergeant
The Double Agent
Movie · as Reg Sugden

Son of Man
Movie · as Peter

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
TV · as Jim Lawsey · 1 ep

ITV Saturday Night Theatre
TV · as Ted Gissing · 1 ep

The Expert
TV · as Hubert Innes · 1 ep

Cold Comfort Farm
TV · as Reuben Starkadder · 3 eps

The Further Adventures of the Musketeers
TV · as Porthos · 16 eps

ITV Playhouse
TV · as Reg Sugden, Jim Carter · 1 ep

The Christmas Tree
Movie

The Three Musketeers
TV · as Porthos · 10 eps

BBC Play of the Month
TV · as Sgt. Kite · 1 ep

Public Eye
TV · as Rev. William Pratt · 1 ep

The Troubleshooters
TV · as Eddie Barnaby · 1 ep

The Wednesday Play
TV · as Peter, Will · 1 ep

Doctor Who
TV · as King Yrcanos · 4 eps

Z-Cars
TV · as PC Smith, PC Fancy Smith, PC William "Fancy" Smith · 1 ep

The Avengers
TV · as Sergeant Hearn, Mark Dayton · 1 ep

Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV · as Captain Teach · 1 ep