Acting
Brian Blessed
1936-10-09 · Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
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
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Tarzan
Family Guy
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Alexander
The Amazing World of Gumball
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Flash Gordon
Much Ado About Nothing
Peppa Pig
Doctor Who
Blackadder
Hamlet
Henry V
The Eagle Has Landed
Close Enough
Movie credits · 99
Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs
Space: 1999 4K Double Bill - Breakaway and The Metamorph
Time Travel Is Dangerous!
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
Peppa's Cinema Party
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
Peter O'Toole Réalta & Rógaire
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
Dear Mr. Burton
Eugenius!
Shed of the Dead
Robin Hood: The Rebellion
Life After Flash
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
The Seventeenth Kind
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
So You Want To Be A Pirate!
Tales of Television Centre
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
Mr. Bojagi
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
Agent Crush
Back in Business
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
The Conclave
As You Like It
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
Day of Wrath
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
Alexander
The Legend of the Tamworth Two
Devil's Harvest
TV credits · 88
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Best & Bester
Blankety Blank
Close Enough
The Russell Howard Hour
Danger Mouse
The Kumars
Was It Something I Said?
Wizards vs Aliens
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
Sooty
The Amazing World of Gumball
Fee Fi Fo Yum
In Confidence
Take Me Out
The Underdog Show
All Star Mr & Mrs
Saving Planet Earth UK
Would I Lie to You?
Britain's Got More Talent
Who Do You Think You Are?
The Paul O'Grady Show
Peppa Pig
QI
The Royal
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Fun at the Funeral Parlour
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
The Big Knights
Family Guy
The Heaven and Earth Show
Fantasy World Cup
The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Soccer AM
Johnny and the Dead
Sooty & Co.
Lady Chatterley
GMTV
Pebble Mill
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