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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Time Travel Is Dangerous! | Gavin the Octopus (voice) | 2025-03-28 |
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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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Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth! | Narrator | 2022-10-07 |
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The Queen: 70 Glorious Years | Self | 2022-02-06 |
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Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba | Self | 2022-11-26 |
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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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The Seventeenth Kind | The Voice (voice) | 2014-07-01 |
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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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LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out | Boss Nass (voice) | 2012-09-26 |
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Tales of Television Centre | Self | 2012-05-17 |
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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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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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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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Das Konklave | Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin | 2006-09-07 |
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Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy | Sir Gregory (voice) | 2006-08-04 |
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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(voice) | 2005-12-25 |
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The Funny Blokes of British Comedy | King Richard IV (archive footage) (uncredited) | 2005-03-03 |
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The Legend of the Tamworth Two | Wild Boar (voice) | 2004-04-12 |
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448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas | Narrator | 2004-12-12 |
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Alexander | Wrestling Trainer | 2004-11-21 |
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The Dark Side of Everest | Self | 2003-01-01 |
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Devil's Harvest | Father Gabriel Norton | 2003-01-01 |
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I, Claudius: A Television Epic | Self | 2002-09-30 |
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The Making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Self - Actor | 2002-12-11 |
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The Mumbo Jumbo | Lucifer Bounder | 2000-10-24 |
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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | Boss Nass (voice) | 1999-05-19 |
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Tarzan | Clayton (voice) | 1999-06-17 |
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King Lear | King Lear | 1999-01-01 |
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The Greatest Store in the World | Mr. Scottley | 1999-12-24 |
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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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Genius: Pythagoras | Self | 1996-02-22 |
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Hamlet | Ghost of Hamlet's Father | 1996-12-25 |
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Catherine the Great | Bestuzhev | 1996-04-28 |
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The Bruce | Edward I | 1996-04-12 |
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The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond | 1995-09-01 | |
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Kidnapped | Cluny MacPherson | 1995-11-05 |
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MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis | Atticus | 1994-05-14 |
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Chasing the Deer | Maj. Elliot | 1994-12-16 |
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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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Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini | Voice of Rossini | 1992-01-01 |
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Back in the USSR | Chazov | 1992-02-07 |
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Exam Conditions | Mr. Carksdale | 1992-07-03 |
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Freddie As F.R.O.7. | El Supremo (voice) | 1992-08-14 |
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De terre et de sang | Chatillon | 1992-09-06 |
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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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Galahad of Everest | George Mallory/Self | 1991-12-07 |
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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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Henry V | Exeter | 1989-10-05 |
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David Macaulay: Pyramid | Ankhaf (voice) | 1989-01-04 |
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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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Blake's 7: The Beginning | Vargas | 1985-09-09 |
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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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High Road to China | Suleman Khan | 1983-03-18 |
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The Hound of the Baskervilles | Geoffrey Lyons | 1983-11-03 |
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Cosmic Princess | Mentor | 1982-12-01 |
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Flash Gordon | Prince Vultan | 1980-12-05 |
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Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter | Detective Jack Noonan | 1979-04-14 |
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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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Into Infinity | Dr. Tom Bowen | 1975-12-09 |
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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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Man of La Mancha | Pedro | 1972-12-12 |
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Henry VIII and His Six Wives | Suffolk | 1972-07-13 |
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The Trojan Women | Talthybius | 1971-05-01 |
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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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Brotherly Love | Jack Baird | 1970-01-07 |
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Wine of India | Will | 1970-04-15 |
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Son of Man | Peter | 1969-04-16 |
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Till Death Us Do Part | Sergeant | 1969-01-01 |
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The Double Agent | Reg Sugden | 1969-05-12 |
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The Christmas Tree | 1966-12-02 |
