Actor
· Acting
Brian Blessed
Born 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.
Filmography 162
Time Travel Is Dangerous!
as Gavin the Octopus (voice)
2025
Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2024
Peppa's Cinema Party
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2024
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
as Self
2022
Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!
as Narrator
2022
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
as Self – Actor
2022
Best & Bester
as Shouty Shirt (Voice)
2022
The Queen: 70 Glorious Years
as Self
2022
Blankety Blank
as Self - Panellist
2021
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Charlemagne (voice)
2021
Dear Mr. Burton
as Narrator
2020
Close Enough
as Sir Jack Kleghorn (voice)
2020
Eugenius!
as Space Lord
2020
Shed of the Dead
as Narrator (voice)
2019
Robin Hood: The Rebellion
as Friar Tuck
2018
Life After Flash
as Self
2017
The Russell Howard Hour
as Self
2017
Danger Mouse
as Santa Claus (voice)
2015
Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2015
Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape
as Self
2014
The Seventeenth Kind
as The Voice (voice)
2014
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
as Judge Jawbreaker (voice)
2014
Wizards vs Aliens
as The Nekross King (voice)
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
Tales of Television Centre
as Self
2012
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
as The Pirate King (voice)
2012
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
as Self - Participant
2011
Sooty
as Father Christmas
2011
The Amazing World of Gumball
as Santa Claus (voice)
2011
Take Me Out
as Announcer (voice)
2010
Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments
as Self
2008
The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord
2008
All Star Mr & Mrs
2008
Agent Crush
as Boris Goudphater (voice)
2008
Would I Lie to You?
as Self
2007
Britain's Got More Talent
as Self - Narrator
2007
Back in Business
as Trevor Pilkington
2007
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
as Self
2007
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
2006
Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy
as Sir Gregory(voice)
2005
448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas
as Narrator
2004
Alexander
as Wrestling Trainer
2004
Who Do You Think You Are?
as Self
2004
The Paul O'Grady Show
2004
Peppa Pig
as Grampy Rabbit (voice)
2004
The Legend of the Tamworth Two
as Wild Boar (voice)
2004
QI
as Self
2003
The Royal
as Sir Edward Fawcett
2003
Devil's Harvest
as Father Gabriel Norton
2003
The Dark Side of Everest
as Self
2003
I, Claudius: A Television Epic
as Self
2002
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
as Self
2002
The Mumbo Jumbo
as Lucifer Bounder
2000
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
2000
The Greatest Store in the World
as Mr. Scottley
1999
The Big Knights
as Sir Morris
1999
Tarzan
as Clayton (voice)
1999
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
as Boss Nass (voice)
1999
Family Guy
as Prince Vultan (voice)
1999
King Lear
as King Lear
1999
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
as Old Deuteronomy
1998
The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling
as Squire Western
1997
Macbeth
as Edward the Confessor
1997
Hamlet
as Ghost of Hamlet's Father
1996
Catherine the Great
as Bestuzhev
1996
The Bruce
as Edward I
1996
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
as Captain (voice)
1996
Genius: Pythagoras
as Self
1996
Kidnapped
as Cluny MacPherson
1995
The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
1995
Soccer AM
as Self
1995
Johnny and the Dead
as William Stickers
1995
Chasing the Deer
as Maj. Elliot
1994
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis
as Atticus
1994
David Macaulay: Roman City
as Gaius Valerius (voice)
1994
Sooty & Co.
as Santa Claus
1993
Lady Chatterley
as Petty Officer
1993
Much Ado About Nothing
as Antonio
1993
GMTV
as Self
1993
Blood and Dust
as Chatillon
1992
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
as El Supremo (voice)
1992
Back in the USSR
as Chazov
1992
Galahad of Everest
as George Mallory/Self
1991
Prisoner of Honor
as Gen. Gonse
1991
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
as Lord Locksley
1991
Have I Got News for You
as Self - Host
1990
The Castle of Adventure
as Sam
1990
Henry V
as Exeter
1989
David Macaulay: Pyramid
as Ankhaf (voice)
1989
War and Remembrance
as Yevlenko
1988
My Family and Other Animals
as Spiro
1987
Crossbow
1987
The Gnostics
as Guilhabert De Castres
1987
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
as King Yrcanos
1986
David Macaulay: Cathedral
as Master Guillaume (voice)
1986
John Silver's Return to Treasure Island
as Long John Silver
1986
Lovejoy
as Harry Catapodis
1986
Blake's 7: The Beginning
as Vargas
1985
The Last Days of Pompeii
as Olinthus
1984
The Master of Ballantrae
as Captain Teach
1984
The Hound of the Baskervilles
as Geoffrey Lyons
1983
Natural World
1983
Blackadder
as King Richard IV
1983
High Road to China
as Suleman Khan
1983
David Macaulay: Castle
as Voice
1983
Cosmic Princess
as Mentor
1982
The Kenny Everett Television Show
as Self
1982
Flash Gordon
as Prince Vultan
1980
Minder
as Freddie Dyer
1979
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
as Detective Jack Noonan
1979
Tales of the Unexpected
as Detective Sergeant Jack Nolan
1979
The Aphrodite Inheritance
as Basileos
1979
Blake's 7
as Vargas
1978
A Christmas Carol
as Narrator (voice)
1977
The Eagle Has Landed
as Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)
1976
I, Claudius
as Augustus
1976
Nobody's House
as Jack Treadful
1976
Into Infinity
as Dr. Tom Bowen
1975
A Midsummer Nightmare
as Det Sgt George Briggs
1975
Space: 1999
as Mentor
1975
Space: 1999
as Cabot Rowland
1975
Survivors
as Brod
1975
The Sweeney
as Frank Kemble
1975
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
as Mark of Cornwall
1975
Churchill's People
as Guthrum
1974
Notorious Woman
as Albert Grzymala
1974
Boy Dominic
as William Woodcock
1974
Thriller
as Det Sgt George Briggs
1973
Man of La Mancha
as Pedro
1972
Arthur of the Britons
as Mark of Cornwall
1972
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
as Suffolk
1972
Shirley's World
1972
Justice
as Tiger Lawson
1971
The Trojan Women
as Talthybius
1971
The Last Valley
as Korski
1971
Brotherly Love
as Jack Baird
1970
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
as Jim Lawsey
1969
Son of Man
as Peter
1969
Till Death Us Do Part
as Sergeant
1969
The Expert
as Hubert Innes
1968
Cold Comfort Farm
as Reuben Starkadder
1968
ITV Playhouse
as Reg Sugden
1967
ITV Playhouse
as Jim Carter
1967
The Further Adventures of the Musketeers
as Porthos
1967
The Christmas Tree
1966
The Three Musketeers
as Porthos
1966
BBC Play of the Month
as Sgt. Kite
1965
The Troubleshooters
as Eddie Barnaby
1965
Public Eye
as Rev. William Pratt
1965
The Wednesday Play
as Peter
1964
Doctor Who
as King Yrcanos
1963
Z-Cars
as PC Smith
1962
Z-Cars
as PC Fancy Smith
1962
Z-Cars
as PC William "Fancy" Smith
1962
The Avengers
as Sergeant Hearn
1961
The Avengers
as Mark Dayton
1961
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Captain Teach
1951
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
as Self - Presenter