Brian Blessed

Brian Blessed OBE
Brian Blessed at Cambridge Film Festival in 2007
Born	(1936-10-09) 9 October 1936 Mexborough, Yorkshire, England
Alma mater	Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Occupation(s)	Actor, author, comedian, director, presenter
Years active	1962–present
Spouse	Hildegarde Neil (m. 1978–present)
Children	2

Brian Blessed OBE (born 9 October 1936) is an English actor.

Early life

The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born at the Montague Hospital in the town of Mexborough, Yorkshire. He attended Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School, but after his father suffered an industrial accident, he was forced to leave school early at 14 and spent several years working at a variety of jobs, ranging from undertaker to plasterer's assistant. He completed his National Service as a parachutist in the Royal Air Force. He began his acting training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, alongside Patrick Stewart. He has written about his early life in his autobiography, Dynamite Kid (1992).

Career

An early role was that of PC "Fancy" Smith in the BBC police drama Z-Cars from 1962 to 1965. In 1966, Blessed appeared in Incident at Vichy at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Blessed had small roles in such cult shows as The Avengers (1967, 1969) and the original Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969). He portrayed Caesar Augustus in the BBC series I, Claudius. He portrayed Basileos in the BBC mini-series Michael J. Bird's The Aphrodite Inheritance (1979). He portrayed the father of Robin Hood, Lord Locksley, in the blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).

He has appeared in a number of Shakespearean roles on both stage and screen, including four of the five Shakespeare films directed by Kenneth Branagh: as The Duke of Exeter in Henry V (1989), Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing (1993), The Ghost of Hamlet's Father in Hamlet (1996), and the dual role of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in As You Like It (2006). He also provided the voices of Bob in the animated series Kika & Bob (2008) and Grampy Rabbit in Peppa Pig.

He also hosted the 1978 documentary on the life of Johann Sebastian Bach called The Joy of Bach in which he also portrayed Bach in different vignettes in this documentary.

Other roles have emphasised his comedic abilities: notably Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon (1980) – for which he is frequently remembered for the famous line "Gordon's alive!"; the mad, comic figure of Richard IV in the first series of The Black Adder (1983); and Spiro in the BBC adaptation of My Family and Other Animals (1987). He also played the role of General Yevlenko in the miniseries War and Remembrance (1988). Blessed jokes he almost starred in Blackadder II (1986) as Queen Elizabeth but he wasn't available at the time of filming.

He provided the vocal links on the Sony-Award-winning Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio and introduced adverts for Orange mobile phones. At Christmas 2006, he presented a panto Cinderella for Virgin Radio starring actors such as David Tennant and Thandie Newton. In November 2006, Blessed made a surprise appearance on the midday talk show Loose Women. Also, he is featured reading the story "The White City, Part 1" which is the final piece on the album Late Night Tales: Nightmares on Wax. Blessed was also the voice of Jean Valjean in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's audio dramatic adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. In 2014 to 2019 Brian voiced British novelist and historian G.A henty for heirloom audio productions radio adaptations of G.A henty's novels written for young boys about history and adventure.

Blessed has also starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats as both Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones during the original West End theatre production. In 2002, under the direction of Royal Shakespeare Company director Adrian Noble, Blessed originated the role of Baron Bomburst for the stage musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

During December 2005 to January 2006, Blessed headlined the pantomime production of Peter Pan, alongside CBBC Television presenter Kirsten O'Brien at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich. In late 2007 and early 2008, Blessed starred in the panto version of Peter Pan as Captain Hook at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable. He played the same role again in "Peter Pan" in late 2007, early 2008 and again at Christmas 2008 at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon.

Blessed was the narrator of the Sky1 series Crash Test Dummies, starring Steve Marsh and Dan Wright.

Since October 2008, Blessed presents the UK showings of the Japanese gameshow Unbeatable Banzuke on the Challenge channel under the name Banzuke Brian. He also guest hosted episodes of Have I Got News for You in May 2008 and April 2013.

In 2009, Blessed played the world's worst explorer, Sir Basil Champion – a character based upon Blessed's fictional inspiration, The Lost World's Professor Challenger – in the fourth story in The Scarifyers series, The Curse of the Black Comet. The story was broadcast on BBC7 in 2010.

In November 2009, Blessed starred in a series of online videos on the BBC Comedy website in which he played Henry VIII. The concept of the video series is that the Tudor king is alive & well, and living in a suburban semi with his long-suffering sixth wife Catherine Parr. Henry has embraced modern technology and lives his life online – insulting the King of France on Facebook, surfing for desirable women friends, and blocking the Pope on Twitter.

In late 2009, Blessed starred as the Narrator in the In the Wings production of Peter and the Wolf at the New Victory Theater, New York.

After a successful campaign on social networking site Facebook, satnav manufacturer TomTom recorded Brian Blessed's voice as an option for those using its satnav devices; Blessed's voice has been available in devices since October 2010.

In September 2010, Blessed recorded the voiceover to Sheherazade, or The Princess, the Pirate and the Baboon!, an album of children's stories set to the classical music composition Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and also featuring the voices of Rory Bremner, Jess Murphy, Sam Morris and Nigel Garton. Brian voiced the role of the Great Sultan Shahryār; the album was released as the first in a series entitled Grandma Dingley's Ingeniously Musical Tales in March 2011.

In 2013, Blessed starred in an advertising campaign for the New Zealand bank ASB playing a fictionalised version of himself encouraging the humble population to be proud of their achievements whether big or small.

Other achievements

Blessed has attempted to climb Mount Everest three times, getting to 28,200 feet in 1993 and 25,200 feet in 1996, but never reaching the summit. He has reached the summit of Aconcagua, in Argentina, and Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania. He is the oldest man to trek on foot to the magnetic North Pole, and has undertaken an expedition deep into the jungles of Venezuela.

Blessed has an honorary position as official Shoutsperson of the University of York's Douglas Adams Society, and in 2011 the University's student body voted to name a new study space as the 'Brian Blessed Centre for Quiet Study'.

In 2004, Blessed sang on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes, impersonating Luciano Pavarotti. He is known for his football knowledge and appeared as an expert on the British satellite station UKTV G2 during the 2006 World Cup. He also appeared on A Question of Sport in 2006 and again in 2011 and was a guest host of Have I Got News for You in May 2008, alongside guests Alan Duncan and Marcus Brigstocke (also making a surprise appearance in the Christmas special later in the year). His madcap manner quickly made the show deviate from its usual format, with Paul Merton remarking "Does anyone remember how this show used to be like?" In the same month he appeared as a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show.

Blessed was President of the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) in 2007–2008 and presented the 2008 TRIC Awards at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane. TRIC is an organisation which honours achievers in the film and radio industries. He has honorary degrees from the University of Bradford, awarded in July 2003, and Sheffield Hallam University, awarded in 2004.

He also stars in the Living Legend show in Jersey, Channel Islands. It features many celebrity faces, such as Roger Lloyd Pack, Samantha Janus, Kevin Whately and Tony Robinson. The story is of the history of the island.

In 2009, he featured on the song "Army of the Damned", part of the debut album Beneath the Veiled Embrace by UK power-metal band Pythia, reading the poem "Suicide in the Trenches" by Siegfried Sassoon. He also contributed to "The Joust" by Eden Burning in 1994.

In June 2011, a campaign by Cambridge graduates resulted in Blessed's being nominated for the post of Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

In February 2013, a piece of DLC for the PC game War of the Roses will feature narration from Blessed.

Personal life

Blessed lives in Windlesham, Surrey. He married actress Hildegarde Neil in 1978 and they have one daughter, Rosalind. He also has a number of dogs and is a patron of Hopefield Animal Sanctuary.

Filmography

Film

Brian Blessed

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Asterix the Gaul	Caous (voice)
1969	Till Death Us Do Part	Sergeant
	The Same Skin	Jack Baird
1970	Country Dance
1971	The Last Valley	Korski
	The Trojan Women	Talthybius
1972	Henry VIII and His Six Wives	Earl of Suffolk
	Man of La Mancha	Pedro
1980	Flash Gordon	Prince Vultan
1983	High Road to China	Suleman Khan
1989	Henry V	Exeter
	Asterix and the Big Fight	Caous (voice)	(English version)
1991	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	Lord Locksley
	Galahad of Everest	George Mallory
1992	Freddie as F.R.O.7	El Supremo (voice)
1993	Much Ado About Nothing	Signor Antonio
1994	Chasing the Deer	Maj. Elliot
1996	Hamlet	Ghost
1999	King Lear	King Lear
	Tarzan	Clayton (voice)
	Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace	Boss Nass (voice)
2004	Alexander	Wrestling trainer
2006	The Conclave	Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini
2007	Back in Business	Trevor Pilkington
2008	Agent Crush	Boris Goudphater (voice)
2012	The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists	Pirate King (voice)
	Katherine of Alexandria		(post-production)
2013	Dorothy of Oz	Judge Jawbreaker (voice)	(post-production)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962–1965	Z-Cars	PC "Fancy" Smith
1966	The Three Musketeers	Porthos
1967-1969	The Avengers	Mark Dayton	Episodes: "The Superlative Seven" "The Morning After"
1968	Cold Comfort Farm	Reuben Starkadder	Episodes: "Folk" "Woodshed" "Doom"
1969	Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)	The Ghost Who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo
1969-1970	The Wednesday Play	Peter Will	Episodes: "Son of Man" "Wine of India"
1971	Jackanory	Storyteller	Episodes: "The Miller and the Smiling Cat - Part 1" "The Miller and the Smiling Cat - Part 2" "The Imp and the Nagging Wife" "The Crow-Fairy - Part 1" "The Crow-Fairy - Part 2"
1972-1973	Arthur of the Britons	Mark of Cornwall	Episodes: "Arthur Is Dead" "The Duel" "Rolf the Preacher" "The Prize" "The Prisoner" "The Marriage Feast" "The Games"
1974	Boy Dominic	William Woodcock
1975	King Arthur, the Young Warlord	Mark of Cornwall
1976	The Day After Tomorrow	Dr Tom Bowen
	The Sweeney	Frank Kemble	Episode: "Ringer"
	Space: 1999	Dr. Cabot Rowland, "The Metamorph" Mentor	Episode: "Death's Other Dominion"
	I, Claudius	Augustus	Episodes: "A Touch of Murder" "Waiting in the Wings" "What Shall We Do About Claudius?" "Poison Is Queen" "Old King Log"
1977	Survivors	Brod	Episode: "Law of the Jungle"
1978	Blake's 7	Vargas	Episode: "Cygnus Alpha"
1980	The Little World of Don Camillo	Peppone
	The Joy of Bach	J.S. Bach himself
1983	Great Little Railways	Himself
	The Black Adder	Richard IV	Episodes: "The Foretelling" "Born to be King" "The Archbishop" "The Queen of Spain's Beard" "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" "The Black Seal"
1984	The Last Days of Pompeii	Olinthus
1986	Doctor Who	King Yrcanos	Episode: "Mindwarp"
	Return to Treasure Island	Long John Silver
1987	My Family and Other Animals	Spiro
1989	Minder	Detective	Episode: "The Last Video Show"
1990	The Castle of Adventure	Sam Scar
1991	Lovejoy	Harry Catapodis	Episode: "The Black Virgin of Vladimir"
1993	Lady Chatterley	Petty Officer	Episode: "Episode #1.4"
1994	MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis	Atticus	(TV movie)
1995	Johnny and the Dead	William 'Bill' Sticker
	Kidnapped	Cluny MacPherson	(TV movie)
1996	Catherine the Great	Bestuzhev
1997	The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling	Squire Western
1998	Dennis the Menace	Captain	Episode: "Skull and Crossbones"
1999	Adam's Family Tree	Cavalier	Episode: "A Cavalier Spirit"
	The Big Knights	Sir Morris (voice)	(TV movie)
	The Greatest Store in the World	Mr. Scottley
	The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything	King Henry VIII	(TV movie)
2004	Winter Solstice	Max
	The Legend of the Tamworth Two	Wild Boar (voice)
2006	Alexander the Great	Narrator	(Video documentary)
	Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy	Sir Gregory	(TV movie)
2006-2010	Peppa Pig	Grampy Rabbit	Episodes: "Grandpa Pig's Boat" "Grampy Rabbits Lighthouse"
2007-2011	Doctors	Dominic Duvall / Micky 'Rebel' Becket	Episodes: "Rebel, Rebel" "The Devil's Daughter"
2008	Kika & Bob	Bob
	The Wrong Door	Captain Goiter	Episodes: "The Train Pirates" "Bondo"
	Family Guy	Prince Vultan	Episode: "Road to Germany"
	The Royal	Sir Edward Fawcett	Episode: "Pastures New"
	Have I Got News for You	Guest Presenter	Episodes: "Episode #35.3" "Episode #36.10"
2009	Henry 8.0	Henry Tudor
2010	Fee Fi Fo Yum	GTV Announcer (voice)
	Little Princess	Great Uncle Walter	Episode: "I Want My Horace"
2010-2011	The Legend of Dick and Dom	King	Episodes: "Beastly" "Home"
2011	Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War	Narrator	(Video documentary)
	QI	Himself	Episode: "Ice"
2012	Wizards vs Aliens	Nekross King (Voice)
	The Amazing World of Gumball	Santa Claus (voice)	Episode: "Christmas"
2013	Have I Got News for You	Guest Presenter	Episode: "Episode #45.2"

Video Games

Year	Title	Role
1996	Privateer 2: The Darkening	Uncle Kashumai
1999	Tarzan	Clayton
2002	Kingdom Hearts
2003	Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior	Admiral Constantine
2006	Rome Total War	Narrator
2008	Viking: Battle for Asgard
2013	War of the Roses

Bibliography

• The Turquoise Mountain: Brian Blessed on Everest (1991)
• Dynamite Kid (1992)
• Nothing's Impossible (1994)
• To the Top of the World (1995)
• Quest for the Lost World (1999)

Other websites

• Brian Blessed on IMDb
• Brian Blessed at the TCM Movie Database
• Brian Blessed at AllRovi