Brian Blessed

Born: 1936-10-09 in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK

Known For: Acting

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.

Filmography

2025

Time Travel Is Dangerous! as Gavin the Octopus (voice)

2024

Peppa Pig: Wedding Party! as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
Peppa's Cinema Party as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

2022

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg as Self – Actor
Best & Bester as Shouty Shirt (Voice)
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years as Self
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth! as Narrator

2021

Blankety Blank as Self - Panellist
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans as Charlemagne (voice)

2020

Close Enough as Sir Jack Kleghorn (voice)
Eugenius! as Space Lord
Dear Mr. Burton as Narrator

2019

Shed of the Dead as Narrator (voice)

2018

Robin Hood: The Rebellion as Friar Tuck

2017

The Russell Howard Hour as Self
Life After Flash as Self

2015

Danger Mouse as Santa Claus (voice)
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

2010

Take Me Out as Announcer (voice)
In Confidence
Fee Fi Fo Yum as GTV Announcer
Mr. Bojagi as Mr. Bojagi

2008

All Star Mr & Mrs
The Underdog Show
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments as Self
Agent Crush as Boris Goudphater (voice)
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord

2007

Would I Lie to You? as Self
Britain's Got More Talent as Self - Narrator
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas as Self
Saving Planet Earth UK as Himself - Presenter
Back in Business as Trevor Pilkington

2006

As You Like It as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
Day of Wrath as Lord Francisco del Ruiz
The Conclave as Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy as Sir Gregory (voice)

2005

The Funny Blokes of British Comedy as King Richard IV (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy as Sir Gregory(voice)

2004

Peppa Pig as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
The Paul O'Grady Show
Who Do You Think You Are? as Self
Alexander as Wrestling Trainer
The Legend of the Tamworth Two as Wild Boar (voice)
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas as Narrator

2003

QI as Self
The Royal as Sir Edward Fawcett
Devil's Harvest as Father Gabriel Norton
The Dark Side of Everest as Self

2002

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway as Self
I, Claudius: A Television Epic as Self
The Making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Self - Actor

2001

Fun at the Funeral Parlour

2000

The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
The Mumbo Jumbo as Lucifer Bounder

1999

Family Guy as Prince Vultan (voice)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace as Boss Nass (voice)
Tarzan as Clayton (voice)
The Big Knights as Sir Morris
The Greatest Store in the World as Mr. Scottley
King Lear as King Lear

1998

The Heaven and Earth Show
Fantasy World Cup as Self
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh as Old Deuteronomy

1997

The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling as Squire Western
Macbeth as Edward the Confessor

1996

Hamlet as Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher as Captain (voice)
Catherine the Great as Bestuzhev
The Bruce as Edward I
Genius: Pythagoras as Self

1995

Soccer AM as Self
Johnny and the Dead as William Stickers
Kidnapped as Cluny MacPherson
The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond

1994

MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis as Atticus
David Macaulay: Roman City as Gaius Valerius (voice)
Chasing the Deer as Maj. Elliot

1993

Lady Chatterley as Petty Officer
GMTV as Self
Much Ado About Nothing as Antonio
Sooty & Co. as Santa Claus

1992

Freddie As F.R.O.7. as El Supremo (voice)
Back in the USSR as Chazov
Exam Conditions as Mr. Carksdale
Blood and Dust as Chatillon
Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini as Voice of Rossini

1991

Pebble Mill as Self
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as Lord Locksley
Prisoner of Honor as Gen. Gonse
Galahad of Everest as George Mallory/Self

1990

Have I Got News for You as Self - Host
The Castle of Adventure as Sam
The Castle of Adventure as Sam

1989

Henry V as Exeter
David Macaulay: Pyramid as Ankhaf (voice)
The Old Man Of The Mountain as Narrator

1988

War and Remembrance as Yevlenko
A Question of Entertainment

1987

Crossbow
My Family and Other Animals as Spiro
The Gnostics as Guilhabert De Castres

1986

Lovejoy as Harry Catapodis
John Silver's Return to Treasure Island as Long John Silver
Doctor Who: Mindwarp as King Yrcanos
David Macaulay: Cathedral as Master Guillaume (voice)

1985

Blake's 7: The Beginning as Vargas

1984

The Last Days of Pompeii as Olinthus
The Master of Ballantrae as Captain Teach

1983

Blackadder as King Richard IV
Natural World
High Road to China as Suleman Khan
The Hound of the Baskervilles as Geoffrey Lyons
David Macaulay: Castle as Voice

1982

The Kenny Everett Television Show as Self
Cosmic Princess as Mentor

1981

The Little World of Don Camillo as Peppone

1980

Flash Gordon as Prince Vultan

1979

Minder as Freddie Dyer
Tales of the Unexpected as Detective Sergeant Jack Nolan
The Aphrodite Inheritance as Basileos
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter as Detective Jack Noonan

1978

Blake's 7 as Vargas

1977

A Christmas Carol as Narrator (voice)

1976

I, Claudius as Augustus
The Eagle Has Landed as Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
Nobody's House as Jack Treadful

1975

Space: 1999 as Mentor
The Sweeney as Frank Kemble
Survivors as Brod
The Day After Tomorrow as Dr. Tom Bowen
Into Infinity as Dr. Tom Bowen
A Midsummer Nightmare as Det Sgt George Briggs
King Arthur, the Young Warlord as Mark of Cornwall

1974

Churchill's People as Guthrum
Boy Dominic as William Woodcock
Notorious Woman as Albert Grzymala

1973

Thriller as Det Sgt George Briggs
European Heritage as Narrator (voice)

1972

Arthur of the Britons as Mark of Cornwall
Shirley's World
Man of La Mancha as Pedro
Henry VIII and His Six Wives as Suffolk

1971

Justice as Tiger Lawson
The Last Valley as Korski
The Trojan Women as Talthybius
The Bristol Entertainment as Cabot / Wolstan / Pocock / Colston / Pope Gregory / Dr. Beddoes

1970

Brotherly Love as Jack Baird
Wine of India as Will

1969

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) as Jim Lawsey
Son of Man as Peter
Till Death Us Do Part as Sergeant
The Double Agent as Reg Sugden

1968

The Expert as Hubert Innes
Cold Comfort Farm as Reuben Starkadder

1967

ITV Playhouse as Reg Sugden
The Further Adventures of the Musketeers as Porthos

1966

The Three Musketeers as Porthos
The Christmas Tree

1965

BBC Play of the Month as Sgt. Kite
Public Eye as Rev. William Pratt
The Troubleshooters as Eddie Barnaby

1964

The Wednesday Play as Peter

1963

Doctor Who as King Yrcanos

1962

Z-Cars as PC Smith

1961

The Avengers as Sergeant Hearn

1951

Hallmark Hall of Fame as Captain Teach