Brian Blessed
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.
Photos
Films (100)
Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs
2027 · Arthur (voice)
Space: 1999 4K Double Bill - Breakaway and The Metamorph
2026 · Mentor
Time Travel Is Dangerous!
2025 · Gavin the Octopus (voice)
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
2024 · Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Peppa's Cinema Party
2024 · Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Peter O’Toole, le vrai visage de Lawrence d’Arabie
2022 · Self
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
2022 · Narrator
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
2022 · Self
Peter O'Toole Réalta & Rógaire
2021 · Self
Chasseurs de Trolls : Le Réveil des titans
2021 · Charlemagne (voice)
Dear Mr. Burton
2020 · Narrator
Eugenius!
2020 · Space Lord
Shed of the Dead
2019 · Narrator (voice)
Robin des bois : La rébellion
2018 · Friar Tuck
Eric and the Barbarian
2018 · Odin
Life After Flash
2017 · Self
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
2015 · Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
2014 · Self
The Seventeenth Kind
2014 · The Voice (voice)
Le Monde magique d'Oz
2014 · Judge Jawbreaker (voice)
LEGO Star Wars : L'Empire en vrac
2012 · Boss Nass (voice)
Les Pirates ! Toi aussi, deviens un pirate !
2012 · The Pirate King
Tales of Television Centre
2012 · Self
Les Pirates ! Bons à rien, mauvais en tout
2012 · The Pirate King (voice)
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
2011 · Narrator
Mr. Bojagi
2010 · Mr. Bojagi
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
2008 · Self
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
2008
Agent Crush
2008 · Boris Goudphater (voice)
Back in Business
2007 · Trevor Pilkington
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007 · Self
The Conclave
2006 · Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin
Comme il vous plaira
2006 · Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
2006 · Sir Gregory (voice)
Jour de colère
2006 · Lord Francisco del Ruiz
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
2005 · Sir Gregory(voice)
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005 · King Richard IV (archive footage) (uncredited)
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
2004 · Narrator
Alexandre
2004 · Wrestling Trainer
The Legend of the Tamworth Two
2004 · Wild Boar (voice)
Devil's Harvest
2003 · Father Gabriel Norton
The Dark Side of Everest
2003 · Self
The Making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
2002 · Self - Actor
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
2002 · Self
Mumbo Jumbo
2000 · Lucifer Bounder
Noël dans le plus grand magasin du monde
1999 · Mr. Scottley
Tarzan
1999 · Clayton (voice)
Star Wars, épisode I - La Menace fantôme
1999 · Boss Nass (voice)
King Lear
1999 · King Lear, Director
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998 · Old Deuteronomy
Macbeth
1997 · Edward the Confessor
Hamlet
1996 · Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Catalina la Grande
1996 · Bestuzhev
The Bruce
1996 · Edward I
Genius: Pythagoras
1996 · Self
Summit Fever
1996 · Self
Kidnapped
1995 · Cluny MacPherson
The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
1995
Chasing the Deer
1994 · Maj. Elliot
Le Trésor perdu de l'Atlantide
1994 · Atticus
David Macaulay: Roman City
1994 · Gaius Valerius (voice)
Beaucoup de bruit pour rien
1993 · Antonio
Blood and Dust
1992 · Chatillon
Freddie, agent secret
1992 · El Supremo (voice)
Exam Conditions
1992 · Mr. Carksdale
Back in the USSR
1992 · Chazov
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
1992 · Voice of Rossini
Galahad of Everest
1991 · George Mallory/Self
Une affaire d'honneur
1991 · Gen. Gonse
Robin des Bois, prince des voleurs
1991 · Lord Locksley
The Castle of Adventure
1990 · Sam
Henry V
1989 · Exeter
David Macaulay: Pyramid
1989 · Ankhaf (voice)
The Old Man Of The Mountain
1989 · Narrator
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
1986 · King Yrcanos
David Macaulay: Cathedral
1986 · Master Guillaume (voice)
Blake's 7: The Beginning
1985 · Vargas
The Master of Ballantrae
1984 · Captain Teach
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1983 · Geoffrey Lyons
High Road to China
1983 · Suleman Khan
David Macaulay: Castle
1983 · Voice
Cosmic Princess
1982 · Mentor
Flash Gordon
1980 · Prince Vultan
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
1979 · Detective Jack Noonan
A Christmas Carol
1977 · Narrator (voice)
The Eagle Has Landed
1976 · Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity
1975 · Dr. Tom Bowen
A Midsummer Nightmare
1975 · Det Sgt George Briggs
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
1975 · Mark of Cornwall
Man of La Mancha
1972 · Pedro
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
1972 · Suffolk
The Bristol Entertainment
1971 · Cabot / Wolstan / Pocock / Colston / Pope Gregory / Dr. Beddoes
The Trojan Women
1971 · Talthybius
The Last Valley
1971 · Korski
Wine of India
1970 · Will
Brotherly Love
1970 · Jack Baird
The Double Agent
1969 · Reg Sugden
Son of Man
1969 · Peter
Till Death Us Do Part
1969 · Sergeant
The Christmas Tree
1966
Séries (91)
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
2022 · Self – Actor
Best & Bester
2022 · Shouty Shirt (Voice)
Blankety Blank
2021 · Self - Panellist
De proches en proches
2020 · Sir Jack Kleghorn (voice)
The Russell Howard Hour
2017 · Self
DARE DARE MOTUS
2015 · Santa Claus (voice)
The Kumars
2014 · Self
Was It Something I Said?
2013 · Self - Narrator
Sorciers vs Aliens
2012 · The Nekross King (voice)
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
2011 · Self - Participant
Sooty
2011 · Father Christmas
Le Monde incroyable de Gumball
2011 · Santa Claus (voice)
Fee Fi Fo Yum
2010 · GTV Announcer
In Confidence
2010
Take Me Out
2010 · Announcer (voice)
The Underdog Show
2008
All Star Mr & Mrs
2008
Saving Planet Earth UK
2007 · Himself - Presenter
Would I Lie to You?
2007 · Self
Britain's Got More Talent
2007 · Self - Narrator
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004 · Self
The Paul O'Grady Show
2004
Peppa Pig
2004 · Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Q.I.
2003 · Self
The Royal
2003 · Sir Edward Fawcett
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
2002 · Self
I Love 1980's
2001
Fun at the Funeral Parlour
2001
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
2000
The Big Knights
1999 · Sir Morris (voice)
Les Griffin
1999 · Prince Vultan (voice)
The Heaven and Earth Show
1998
Fantasy World Cup
1998 · Self
The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling
1997 · Squire Western
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996 · Captain (voice)
Soccer AM
1995 · Self
Johnny and the Dead
1995 · William Stickers
Sooty & Co.
1993 · Santa Claus
Lady Chatterley
1993 · Petty Officer
GMTV
1993 · Self
Pebble Mill
1991 · Self
Have I Got News for You
1990 · Self - Host
The Castle of Adventure
1990 · Sam
War and Remembrance
1988 · Yevlenko
A Question of Entertainment
1988
Comic Relief
1988
My Family and Other Animals
1987 · Spiro
Crossbow
1987
The Gnostics
1987 · Guilhabert De Castres
John Silver's Return to Treasure Island
1986 · Long John Silver
Boon
1986 · Lambert Sampson
Lovejoy
1986 · Harry Catapodis
The Last Days of Pompeii
1984 · Olinthus
Natural World
1983
Blackadder
1983 · King Richard IV
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1982 · Self
The Little World of Don Camillo
1981 · Peppone
Minder
1979 · Freddie Dyer
Tales of the Unexpected
1979 · Detective Sergeant Jack Nolan
The Aphrodite Inheritance
1979 · Basileos
Blake's 7
1978 · Vargas
I, Claudius
1976 · Augustus
Nobody's House
1976 · Jack Treadful
The Day After Tomorrow
1975 · Dr. Tom Bowen
Space: 1999
1975 · Mentor, Cabot Rowland
Survivors
1975 · Brod
The Sweeney
1975 · Frank Kemble
Churchill's People
1974 · Guthrum
Notorious Woman
1974 · Albert Grzymala
Boy Dominic
1974 · William Woodcock
European Heritage
1973 · Narrator (voice)
Thriller
1973 · Det Sgt George Briggs
Arthur of the Britons
1972 · Mark of Cornwall
Shirley's World
1972
Justice
1971 · Tiger Lawson
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
1969 · Jim Lawsey
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969 · Ted Gissing
The Expert
1968 · Hubert Innes
Cold Comfort Farm
1968 · Reuben Starkadder
ITV Playhouse
1967 · Reg Sugden, Jim Carter
The Further Adventures of the Musketeers
1967 · Porthos
The Three Musketeers
1966 · Porthos
BBC Play of the Month
1965 · Sgt. Kite
The Troubleshooters
1965 · Eddie Barnaby
Public Eye
1965 · Rev. William Pratt
The Wednesday Play
1964 · Peter, Will
Doctor Who
1963 · King Yrcanos
Z-Cars
1962 · PC Smith, PC Fancy Smith, PC William "Fancy" Smith
The Avengers
1961 · Sergeant Hearn, Mark Dayton
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 · Captain Teach
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
· Self - Presenter