Biography

Brian Blessed

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Overview

Born
October 9, 1936 · Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
Height
5′ 9¾″ (1.77 m)

Mini bio

Boisterous British actor Brian Blessed is known for his hearty, king-sized portrayals on film and television. A giant of a man accompanied by an eloquent wit and booming, operatic voice, Brian was born in 1936 and grew up in the mining village of Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire. His father was a miner who wanted a better life for his son; Brian lost three uncles in the pit. At a young age, he displayed an acute talent for acting in school productions, but also had a penchant for boxing, a direction that would be short-lived.

Working various blue-collar jobs from undertaker's assistant to plasterer, Brian managed to attend the Bristol Old Vic and was off and running. He has lent his musical talents to several productions - from playing "Old Deuteronomy" in "Cats" to "The Baron" in the more recent "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". In the 1970s, he began appearing more and more on-camera with both classical and contemporary performances. In costumed television movies, he has played "Porthos" in The Three Musketeers (1966) and The Further Adventures of the Musketeers (1967), "Augustus" in I, Claudius (1976), and "Long John Silver" in Return to Treasure Island (1986) and has been a part of various reenactments including Catherine the Great (1995), Lady Chatterley (1993), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) and Kidnapped (1995).

On film, he has appeared in robust support in several William Shakespeare adaptations, including Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Macbeth (1997) and the title role in King Lear (1999), which he also directed.

More recently, he appeared in Oliver Stone's epic-scale Alexander (2004) and in Kenneth Branagh's film version of William Shakespeare's As You Like It (2006).

In recent years, the octogenarian has been heard more than seen with voice work in video games, documentaries and such animated TV programs as Kika & Bob (2007) (as Bob); The Amazing World of Gumball (2011) (as Santa Claus); Wizards vs. Aliens (2012) (as the Necross King); Henry Hugglemonster (2013) (as Eduardo Enormomonster); and Peppa Pig (2004) as Grampy Rabbit.

He is married to British actress Hildegard Neil, who made an appearance with him in Macbeth (1997).
- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Family

Spouses
Parents

Trademark

Booming operatic voice
Boisterous, bombastic, eccentric persona.
His magnificent beard
His line from Flash Gordon - "GORDON'S ALIVE!", which he usually bellows during guest appearances on TV panel shows and other events.

Trivia

As a reference to his loud booming voice, York University voted in 2011 to name its newly-built study centre "Brian Blessed Centre for Quiet Study".
He has been close friends with Patrick Stewart since childhood, when the two (both with a love of theatre) would hitch on coal wagons to London in order to see plays.
He is the oldest person to have reached both the geographical North Pole and the magnetic North Pole.
At age 14, he attended the Second World Peace Congress held in Sheffield during November 1950, where he encountered Pablo Picasso, challenging him to draw something. The artist penned a dove of peace, which the young Blessed scorned before sketching a similar bird himself and presenting it to an amused Picasso. Blessed would not accept Picasso's offer of his picture, thereby unwittingly earning his father's wrath.
As a child, he and his friends used to play at "Flash Gordon", inspired by the Buster Crabbe serial films. In these childhood games, Brian would always play "Vultan", leader of the Hawkmen. In the cult science fiction film Flash Gordon (1980), he played the same role as he had in childhood.

Quotes

[on William Shakespeare] The blue planet has had its author. It would be greedy to want another.
[on Doctor Who (1963) in 1995] Like all the kind of traditional programmes on the BBC from the past, it is timeless and I do hope it comes back.
After I was in Z Cars (1962), the head of BBC serials took me aside and said, 'We're thinking of having a young Doctor Who (1963) and we'd like to cast you'. But it clashed with other things.
[on Doctor Who (2005)] I think they need to re-examine his surname - 'Who' is very oriental. It's about time they had an Asian actor as the Doctor. And a female one.
Women are my religion. 90 per cent of men have always bored the derriere off me as people.