Brian Blessed
Acting
Born 1936-10-09
Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
184 credits
Read 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.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 184
Acting
55 credits
Family Guy
Peppa Pig
Doctor Who
The Amazing World of Gumball
Have I Got News for You
The Avengers
BBC Play of the Month
Minder
Lady Chatterley
Tales of the Unexpected
Space: 1999
The Wednesday Play
QI
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
GMTV
Soccer AM
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
Would I Lie to You?
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Pebble Mill
Blackadder
Who Do You Think You Are?
Close Enough
Z-Cars
Tarzan
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
The Sweeney
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
ITV Playhouse
Alexander
Blake's 7
Lovejoy
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Justice
Danger Mouse
Public Eye
I, Claudius
Thriller
The Russell Howard Hour
The Troubleshooters
Churchill's People
The Expert
War and Remembrance
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Blankety Blank
Much Ado About Nothing
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
Sooty
Flash Gordon
The Kenny Everett Television Show
Britain's Got More Talent
Best & Bester
Survivors
Fantasy World Cup
Other credits
5 credits
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