1936-10-09 Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
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.
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Peppa Pig: Wedding Party! | Grampy Rabbit (voice) | 2024-03-27 |
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Peppa's Cinema Party | Grampy Rabbit (voice) | 2024-02-07 |
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Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba | Self | 2022-11-26 |
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The Queen: 70 Glorious Years | Self | 2022-02-06 |
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Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth! | Narrator | 2022-10-07 |
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Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans | Charlemagne (voice) | 2021-07-21 |
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Dear Mr. Burton | Narrator | 2020-09-07 |
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Eugenius! | Space Lord | 2020-03-20 |
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Shed of the Dead | Narrator (voice) | 2019-05-20 |
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Robin Hood: The Rebellion | Friar Tuck | 2018-11-05 |
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Life After Flash | Self | 2017-10-02 |
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Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots | Grampy Rabbit (voice) | 2015-02-14 |
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Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return | Judge Jawbreaker (voice) | 2014-05-08 |
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Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape | Self | 2014-11-09 |
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The Seventeenth Kind | The Voice (voice) | 2014-07-01 |
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So You Want To Be A Pirate! | The Pirate King | 2012-07-09 |
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The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! | The Pirate King (voice) | 2012-03-12 |
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Tales of Television Centre | Self | 2012-05-17 |
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LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out | Boss Nass (voice) | 2012-09-24 |
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Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War | Narrator | 2011-10-22 |
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Mr. Bojagi | Mr. Bojagi | 2010-03-05 |
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Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments | Self | 2008-10-16 |
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Agent Crush | Boris Goudphater (voice) | 2008-01-01 |
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The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord | 2008-09-30 | |
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Das Konklave | Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin | 2007-02-16 |
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Back in Business | Trevor Pilkington | 2007-02-09 |
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The 50 Greatest Television Dramas | Self | 2007-02-03 |
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Day of Wrath | Lord Francisco del Ruiz | 2006-06-27 |
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As You Like It | Duke Senior/Duke Frederick | 2006-09-01 |
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Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy | Sir Gregory | 2006-08-04 |
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Alexander | Wrestling Trainer | 2004-11-21 |
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448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas | Narrator | 2004-12-12 |
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The Legend of the Tamworth Two | Wild Boar (voice) | 2004-04-12 |
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Devil's Harvest | Father Gabriel Norton | 2003-01-01 |
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The Dark Side of Everest | Self | 2003-01-01 |
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I, Claudius: A Television Epic | Self | 2002-09-30 |
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The Mumbo Jumbo | Lucifer Bounder | 2000-10-24 |
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Tarzan | Clayton (voice) | 1999-06-18 |
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The Greatest Store in the World | Mr. Scottley | 1999-12-24 |
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King Lear | King Lear | 1999-01-01 |
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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | Boss Nass (voice) | 1999-05-19 |
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Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh | Old Deuteronomy | 1998-11-07 |
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Macbeth | Edward the Confessor | 1997-05-16 |
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Catherine the Great | Bestuzhev | 1996-04-28 |
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Genius: Pythagoras | Self | 1996-02-22 |
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The Bruce | Edward I | 1996-04-12 |
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Hamlet | Ghost of Hamlet's Father | 1996-12-25 |
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Kidnapped | Cluny MacPherson | 1995-11-05 |
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The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond | 1995-09-01 | |
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Chasing the Deer | Maj. Elliot | 1994-12-16 |
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MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis | Atticus | 1994-05-14 |
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David Macaulay: Roman City | Gaius Valerius (voice) | 1994-02-15 |
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Much Ado About Nothing | Antonio | 1993-05-07 |
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De terre et de sang | Chatillon | 1992-09-06 |
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Exam Conditions | Mr. Carksdale | 1992-07-03 |
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Back in the USSR | Chazov | 1992-02-07 |
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Freddie as F.R.O.7. | El Supremo (voice) | 1992-08-14 |
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Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini | Voice of Rossini | 1992-01-01 |
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Galahad of Everest | George Mallory/Self | 1991-12-07 |
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Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | Lord Locksley | 1991-06-14 |
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Prisoner of Honor | Gen. Gonse | 1991-11-02 |
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The Castle of Adventure | Sam | 1990-04-19 |
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The Old Man Of The Mountain | Narrator | 1989-01-01 |
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David Macaulay: Pyramid | Ankhaf (voice) | 1989-01-04 |
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Henry V | Exeter | 1989-10-05 |
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Doctor Who: Mindwarp | King Yrcanos | 1986-10-25 |
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David Macaulay: Cathedral | Master Guillaume (voice) | 1986-04-30 |
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The Master of Ballantrae | Captain Teach | 1984-01-31 |
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David Macaulay: Castle | Voice | 1983-01-01 |
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The Hound of the Baskervilles | Geoffrey Lyons | 1983-11-03 |
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High Road to China | Suleman Khan | 1983-03-18 |
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Cosmic Princess | Mentor | 1982-12-01 |
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Flash Gordon | Prince Vultan | 1980-09-01 |
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A Christmas Carol | Narrator (voice) | 1977-12-24 |
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The Eagle Has Landed | Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited) | 1976-12-24 |
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A Midsummer Nightmare | Det Sgt George Briggs | 1975-09-16 |
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King Arthur, the Young Warlord | Mark of Cornwall | 1975-01-01 |
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Into Infinity | Dr. Tom Bowen | 1975-12-09 |
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Henry VIII and His Six Wives | Suffolk | 1972-07-13 |
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Man of La Mancha | Pedro | 1972-12-12 |
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The Bristol Entertainment | Cabot, Wolstan, Pocock, Colston, Pope Gregory, Dr. Beddoes | 1971-12-03 |
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The Last Valley | Korski | 1971-01-28 |
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The Trojan Women | Talthybius | 1971-05-01 |
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Brotherly Love | Jack Baird | 1970-01-07 |
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Wine of India | Will | 1970-04-15 |
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Till Death Us Do Part | Sergeant | 1969-01-01 |
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Son of Man | Peter | 1969-04-16 |
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The Double Agent | Reg Sugden | 1969-05-12 |
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The Christmas Tree | 1966-12-02 |
