Brian Blessed
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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
Credits
Tarzan (1999)
as Clayton (voice)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
as Boss Nass (voice)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
as Lord Locksley
Alexander (2004)
as Wrestling Trainer
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)
as The Pirate King (voice)
The Trojan Women (1971)
as Talthybius
Flash Gordon (1980)
as Prince Vultan
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
as Antonio
The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
as Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)
as Charlemagne (voice)
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (2014)
as Judge Jawbreaker (voice)
Hamlet (1996)
as Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Henry V (1989)
as Exeter
Day of Wrath (2006)
as Lord Francisco del Ruiz
High Road to China (1983)
as Suleman Khan
As You Like It (2006)
as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
Brotherly Love (1970)
as Jack Baird
Robin Hood: The Rebellion (2018)
as Friar Tuck
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out (2012)
as Boss Nass (voice)
The Bruce (1996)
as Edward I
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)
as Geoffrey Lyons
The Last Valley (1971)
as Korski
Catherine the Great (1996)
as Bestuzhev
Time Travel Is Dangerous! (2025)
as Gavin the Octopus (voice)
Agent Crush (2008)
as Boris Goudphater (voice)
Peppa's Cinema Party (2024)
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Freddie As F.R.O.7. (1992)
as El Supremo (voice)
Man of La Mancha (1972)
as Pedro
Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972)
as Suffolk
So You Want To Be A Pirate! (2012)
as The Pirate King
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis (1994)
as Atticus
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas (2007)
as Self
Life After Flash (2017)
as Self
Exam Conditions (1992)
as Mr. Carksdale
David Macaulay: Pyramid (1989)
as Ankhaf (voice)
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy (2005)
as King Richard IV (archive footage) (uncredited)
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas (2004)
as Narrator
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots (2015)
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Cosmic Princess (1982)
as Mentor
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy (2005)
as Sir Gregory(voice)
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party! (2024)
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs (2027)
as Arthur (voice)
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba (2022)
as Self
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments (2008)
as Self
The Master of Ballantrae (1984)
as Captain Teach
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh (1998)
as Old Deuteronomy
David Macaulay: Cathedral (1986)
as Master Guillaume (voice)
Back in the USSR (1992)
as Chazov
Doctor Who: Mindwarp (1986)
as King Yrcanos
Kidnapped (1995)
as Cluny MacPherson
Blake's 7: The Beginning (1985)
as Vargas
Shed of the Dead (2019)
as Narrator (voice)
Prisoner of Honor (1991)
as Gen. Gonse
The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity (1975)
as Dr. Tom Bowen
The Greatest Store in the World (1999)
as Mr. Scottley
A Christmas Carol (1977)
as Narrator (voice)
I, Claudius: A Television Epic (2002)
as Self
The Making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2002)
as Self - Actor
David Macaulay: Roman City (1994)
as Gaius Valerius (voice)
The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond (1995)
Actor
Son of Man (1969)
as Peter
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter (1979)
as Detective Jack Noonan
A Midsummer Nightmare (1975)
as Det Sgt George Briggs
The Legend of the Tamworth Two (2004)
as Wild Boar (voice)
The Conclave (2006)
as Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin
The Dark Side of Everest (2003)
as Self
Till Death Us Do Part (1969)
as Sergeant
The Seventeenth Kind (2014)
as The Voice (voice)
The Mumbo Jumbo (2000)
as Lucifer Bounder
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy (2006)
as Sir Gregory (voice)
Back in Business (2007)
as Trevor Pilkington
Wine of India (1970)
as Will
Tales of Television Centre (2012)
as Self
David Macaulay: Castle (1983)
as Voice
The Double Agent (1969)
as Reg Sugden
King Arthur, the Young Warlord (1975)
as Mark of Cornwall
Galahad of Everest (1991)
as George Mallory/Self
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord (2008)
Actor
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War (2011)
as Narrator
Peter O'Toole Réalta & Rógaire (2021)
as Self
The Castle of Adventure (1990)
as Sam
Eugenius! (2020)
as Space Lord
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years (2022)
as Self
Macbeth (1997)
as Edward the Confessor
Blood and Dust (1992)
as Chatillon
Devil's Harvest (2003)
as Father Gabriel Norton
The Bristol Entertainment (1971)
as Cabot / Wolstan / Pocock / Colston / Pope Gregory / Dr. Beddoes
The Christmas Tree (1966)
Actor
Chasing the Deer (1994)
as Maj. Elliot
Genius: Pythagoras (1996)
as Self
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini (1992)
as Voice of Rossini
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth! (2022)
as Narrator
King Lear (1999)
as King Lear
Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape (2014)
as Self
Dear Mr. Burton (2020)
as Narrator
The Old Man Of The Mountain (1989)
as Narrator
Mr. Bojagi (2010)
as Mr. Bojagi
Summit Fever (1996)
as Self