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.
96 movies · 87 shows
Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs
2026·0.0
Time Travel Is Dangerous!
2025·5.3
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
2024·10.0
Peppa's Cinema Party
2024·4.0
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022·7.8
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
2022·0.0
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
2022·0.0
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
2021·7.6
Dear Mr. Burton
2020·0.0
Eugenius!
2020·8.5
Shed of the Dead
2019·4.9
Robin Hood: The Rebellion
2018·5.0
Life After Flash
2017·5.6
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
2015·10.0
Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
2014·0.0
The Seventeenth Kind
2014·0.0
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
2014·6.3
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
2012·6.5
So You Want To Be A Pirate!
2012·6.2
Tales of Television Centre
2012·8.0
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
2012·6.5
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
2011·5.8
Mr. Bojagi
2010·0.0
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
2008·4.5
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
2008·0.0
Agent Crush
2008·4.8
Back in Business
2007·5.0
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007·0.0
The Conclave
2006·5.9
As You Like It
2006·5.8
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
2006·7.0
Day of Wrath
2006·4.3
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
2005·0.0
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005·6.5
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
2004·8.0
Alexander
2004·6.0
The Legend of the Tamworth Two
2004·5.0
Devil's Harvest
2003·2.4
The Dark Side of Everest
2003·9.0
The Making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
2002·0.0
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
2002·7.0
The Mumbo Jumbo
2000·7.0
The Greatest Store in the World
1999·5.6
Tarzan
1999·7.4
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
1999·6.6
King Lear
1999·9.0
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998·6.7
Macbeth
1997·7.0
Hamlet
1996·7.3
Catherine the Great
1996·5.6
The Bruce
1996·6.4
Genius: Pythagoras
1996·0.0
Kidnapped
1995·6.3
The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
1995·7.0
Chasing the Deer
1994·5.7
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
1994·6.3
David Macaulay: Roman City
1994·9.0
Much Ado About Nothing
1993·6.9
Blood and Dust
1992·7.0
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992·5.3
Exam Conditions
1992·0.0
Back in the USSR
1992·5.0
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
1992·0.0
Galahad of Everest
1991·8.7
Prisoner of Honor
1991·6.3
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991·6.9
The Castle of Adventure
1990·7.8
Henry V
1989·7.1
David Macaulay: Pyramid
1989·0.0
The Old Man Of The Mountain
1989·9.0
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
1986·7.7
David Macaulay: Cathedral
1986·0.0
Blake's 7: The Beginning
1985·9.0
The Master of Ballantrae
1984·6.3
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1983·6.5
High Road to China
1983·6.0
David Macaulay: Castle
1983·6.0
Cosmic Princess
1982·5.4
Flash Gordon
1980·6.3
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
1979·0.0
A Christmas Carol
1977·6.7
The Eagle Has Landed
1976·6.6
The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity
1975·4.6
A Midsummer Nightmare
1975·8.0
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
1975·7.0
Man of La Mancha
1972·6.6
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
1972·5.8
The Bristol Entertainment
1971·0.0
The Trojan Women
1971·6.3
The Last Valley
1971·6.5
Wine of India
1970·10.0
Brotherly Love
1970·6.5
The Double Agent
1969·0.0
Son of Man
1969·10.0
Till Death Us Do Part
1969·7.6
The Christmas Tree
1966·7.0