Brian Blessed profile
Actor profile

Brian Blessed

9th October 1936 Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK Acting

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.

95 Movies 86 TV Shows 181 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Alexander poster
Alexander 21st November 2004 as Wrestling Trainer
Tarzan poster
Tarzan 17th June 1999 as Clayton (voice)
Macbeth poster
Macbeth 16th May 1997 as Edward the Confessor
Hamlet poster
Hamlet 25th December 1996 as Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Sooty poster
Sooty 5th September 2011 as Father Christmas
Peppa Pig poster
Peppa Pig 31st May 2004 as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
QI poster
QI 11th September 2003 as Self
The Royal poster
The Royal 19th January 2003 as Sir Edward Fawcett
Family Guy poster
Family Guy 31st January 1999 as Prince Vultan (voice)
GMTV poster
GMTV 1st January 1993 as Self
Lovejoy poster
Lovejoy 10th January 1986 as Harry Catapodis
Minder poster
Minder 29th October 1979 as Freddie Dyer
Thriller poster
Thriller 14th April 1973 as Det Sgt George Briggs
Justice poster
Justice 8th October 1971 as Tiger Lawson
Z-Cars poster
Z-Cars 2nd January 1962 as PC William "Fancy" Smith