Brian Blessed
85 movies · 66 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Oct 9, 1936 (age 90)
- Place of birth
- Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Also known as
- B. Blessed · برایان بلسد
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.
Read the full biography
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
-
★ 6.6 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
1999 · Film
-
★ 7.4 Tarzan
1999 · Film
-
★ 7.4 Family Guy
1999 · TV
-
★ 6.9 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991 · Film
-
★ 6.0 Alexander
2004 · Film
-
★ 8.5 The Amazing World of Gumball
2011 · TV
-
★ 6.5 The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
2012 · Film
-
★ 6.3 Flash Gordon
1980 · Film
Brian Blessed: movies and TV shows
Acting (151)
- Upcoming Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs
as Arthur (voice)
- 2026
- 2025 Time Travel Is Dangerous!
as Gavin the Octopus (voice)
- 2024 Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
- 2024 Peppa's Cinema Party
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
- 2022 Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
as Narrator
- 2022
- 2021 Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Charlemagne (voice)
- 2020 Dear Mr. Burton
as Narrator
- 2020
- 2020 Eugenius!
as Space Lord
- 2019 Shed of the Dead
as Narrator (voice)
- 2018 Robin Hood: The Rebellion
as Friar Tuck
- 2015
- 2015 Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
- 2014 The Seventeenth Kind
as The Voice (voice)
- 2014 Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
as Judge Jawbreaker (voice)
- 2012
- 2012 LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
as Boss Nass (voice)
- 2012 So You Want To Be A Pirate!
as The Pirate King
- 2012 The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
as The Pirate King (voice)
- 2011 Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War
as Narrator
- 2011
- 2011
- 2010
- 2010 Mr. Bojagi
as Mr. Bojagi
- 2008
- 2008
- 2008
- 2008 Agent Crush
as Boris Goudphater (voice)
- 2007 Back in Business
as Trevor Pilkington
- 2006 The Conclave
as Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin
- 2006 As You Like It
as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick
- 2006 Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
as Sir Gregory (voice)
- 2006 Day of Wrath
as Lord Francisco del Ruiz
- 2005 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)
- 2004 448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
as Narrator
- 2004 Alexander
as Wrestling Trainer
- 2004
- 2004 The Legend of the Tamworth Two
as Wild Boar (voice)
- 2003
- 2003 Devil's Harvest
as Father Gabriel Norton
- 2001
- 2000 The Mumbo Jumbo
as Lucifer Bounder
- 2000
- 1999 The Greatest Store in the World
as Mr. Scottley
- 1999
- 1999 Tarzan
as Clayton (voice)
- 1999 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
as Boss Nass (voice)
- 1999
- 1999 King Lear
as King Lear
- 1998 Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
as Old Deuteronomy
- 1997
- 1997 Macbeth
as Edward the Confessor
- 1996 Hamlet
as Ghost of Hamlet's Father
- 1996 Catherine the Great
as Bestuzhev
- 1996 The Bruce
as Edward I
- 1996
- 1995 Kidnapped
as Cluny MacPherson
- 1995
- 1995
- 1994 Chasing the Deer
as Maj. Elliot
- 1994 MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
as Atticus
- 1994 David Macaulay: Roman City
as Gaius Valerius (voice)
- 1993
- 1993
- 1993 Much Ado About Nothing
as Antonio
- 1992 Blood and Dust
as Chatillon
- 1992 Freddie As F.R.O.7.
as El Supremo (voice)
- 1992 Exam Conditions
as Mr. Carksdale
- 1992 Back in the USSR
as Chazov
- 1992 Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini
as Voice of Rossini
- 1991 Prisoner of Honor
as Gen. Gonse
- 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
as Lord Locksley
- 1990 The Castle of Adventure
as Sam
- 1990
- 1989 Henry V
as Exeter
- 1989 David Macaulay: Pyramid
as Ankhaf (voice)
- 1989 The Old Man Of The Mountain
as Narrator
- 1988
- 1988
- 1987
- 1987
- 1987
- 1986 Doctor Who: Mindwarp
as King Yrcanos
- 1986 David Macaulay: Cathedral
as Master Guillaume (voice)
- 1986
- 1986
- 1986
- 1985 Blake's 7: The Beginning
as Vargas
- 1984
- 1984 The Master of Ballantrae
as Captain Teach
- 1983 The Hound of the Baskervilles
as Geoffrey Lyons
- 1983
- 1983
- 1983 High Road to China
as Suleman Khan
- 1983 David Macaulay: Castle
as Voice
- 1982 Cosmic Princess
as Mentor
- 1981
- 1980 Flash Gordon
as Prince Vultan
- 1979
- 1979 Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
as Detective Jack Noonan
- 1979
- 1979
- 1978
- 1977 A Christmas Carol
as Narrator (voice)
- 1976 The Eagle Has Landed
as Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
- 1976
- 1976
- 1975 The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity
as Dr. Tom Bowen
- 1975
- 1975 A Midsummer Nightmare
as Det Sgt George Briggs
- 1975
- 1975
- 1975
- 1975 King Arthur, the Young Warlord
as Mark of Cornwall
- 1974
- 1974
- 1974
- 1973
- 1973
- 1972 Man of La Mancha
as Pedro
- 1972
- 1972 Henry VIII and His Six Wives
as Suffolk
- 1972
- 1971 The Bristol Entertainment
as Cabot / Wolstan / Pocock / Colston / Pope Gregory / Dr. Beddoes
- 1971
- 1971 The Trojan Women
as Talthybius
- 1971 The Last Valley
as Korski
- 1970 Wine of India
as Will
- 1970 Brotherly Love
as Jack Baird
- 1969
- 1969 The Double Agent
as Reg Sugden
- 1969 Son of Man
as Peter
- 1969
- 1969 Till Death Us Do Part
as Sergeant
- 1968
- 1968
- 1967
- 1967
- 1966
- 1966
- 1965
- 1965
- 1965
- 1964
- 1963
- 1962
- 1961
- 1951
Behind the camera (1)
- 1999 King Lear
Director
Talk shows and appearances (38)
- Upcoming Have I Got a Bit More News for You
2 episodes
- 2022
- 2022 Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
1 episode
- 2022
- 2021
- 2021 Blankety Blank
1 episode
- 2017
- 2017 The Russell Howard Hour
1 episode
- 2014
- 2014 The Kumars
1 episode
- 2013 Was It Something I Said?
1 episode
- 2012
- 2011 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
1 episode
- 2010 In Confidence
1 episode
- 2010 Take Me Out
9 episodes
- 2008
- 2007 Saving Planet Earth UK
1 episode
- 2007 Would I Lie to You?
1 episode
- 2007 Britain's Got More Talent
17 episodes
- 2007
- 2004 Who Do You Think You Are?
1 episode
- 2004 The Paul O'Grady Show
1 episode
- 2003 QI
1 episode
- 2003
- 2002
- 2002
- 2002 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
1 episode
- 1998 The Heaven and Earth Show
1 episode
- 1998 Fantasy World Cup
1 episode
- 1996
- 1996
- 1995 Soccer AM
1 episode
- 1993 GMTV
1 episode
- 1991
- 1991 Pebble Mill
2 episodes
- 1990 Have I Got News for You
2 episodes
- 1988 A Question of Entertainment
1 episode
- 1982 The Kenny Everett Television Show
1 episode