Brian Blessed

ActorDirector Oct 9 (age 89) Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, UK 1951–2025 (74 year career)

6.4 avg rating

Biography

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 Henr…

Known For

Film

Tarzan

Clayton (voice)

Film

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Boss Nass (voice)

Film

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Lord Locksley

Film

Blackadder

King Richard IV

Film

Alexander

Wrestling Trainer

Film

Much Ado About Nothing

Antonio

Film

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

The Pirate King (voice)

Film

Hamlet

Ghost of Hamlet's Father

Filmography

Acting (181)

Movies (94)

Time Travel Is Dangerous!

2025

as Gavin the Octopus (voice)

5.2

Peppa's Cinema Party

2024

as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

4.0

Peppa Pig: Wedding Party!

2024

as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

10.0

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba

2022

as Self

7.8

The Queen: 70 Glorious Years

2022

as Self

Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade the Earth!

2022

as Narrator

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

2021

as Charlemagne (voice)

Eugenius!

as Space Lord

Dear Mr. Burton

as Narrator

Shed of the Dead

2019

as Narrator (voice)

4.9

Robin Hood: The Rebellion

as Friar Tuck

Life After Flash

as Self

Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots

2015

as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

10.0

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return

2014

as Judge Jawbreaker (voice)

6.3

The Seventeenth Kind

2014

as The Voice (voice)

Brian Cox: Space, Time & Videotape

2014

as Self

Tales of Television Centre

2012

as Self

8.0

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

2012

as The Pirate King (voice)

6.5

LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out

2012

as Boss Nass (voice)

6.4

So You Want To Be A Pirate!

2012

as The Pirate King

6.3

Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War

2011

as Narrator

5.8

Mr. Bojagi

2010

as Mr. Bojagi

Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments

2008

as Self

4.5

Agent Crush

2008

as Boris Goudphater (voice)

4.3

The Making of The Trial of a Time Lord

2008

Back in Business

2007

as Trevor Pilkington

4.7

The 50 Greatest Television Dramas

2007

as Self

As You Like It

2006

as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick

5.7

The Conclave

2006

as Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomin

5.9

Day of Wrath

2006

as Lord Francisco del Ruiz

4.1

Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy

2006

as Sir Gregory

4.0

The Funny Blokes of British Comedy

2005

as King Richard IV (archive footage) (uncredited)

6.0

Mist: The Story of a Sheepdog Puppy

2005

as Sir Gregory(voice)

Alexander

2004

as Wrestling Trainer

6.0

448 BC: Olympiad of Ancient Hellas

2004

as Narrator

The Legend of the Tamworth Two

2004

as Wild Boar (voice)

3.0

The Dark Side of Everest

2003

as Self

10.0

Devil's Harvest

2003

as Father Gabriel Norton

1.5

I, Claudius: A Television Epic

2002

as Self

7.0

The Mumbo Jumbo

2000

as Lucifer Bounder

Tarzan

1999

as Clayton (voice)

7.4

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

1999

as Boss Nass (voice)

6.6

The Greatest Store in the World

1999

as Mr. Scottley

4.8

King Lear

1999

as King Lear

Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh

1998

as Old Deuteronomy

2.0

Macbeth

1997

as Edward the Confessor

4.0

Hamlet

1996

as Ghost of Hamlet's Father

The Bruce

as Edward I

Catherine the Great

as Bestuzhev

Genius: Pythagoras

as Self

Kidnapped

1995

as Cluny MacPherson

6.2

The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond

1995

7.0

MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis

as Atticus

Chasing the Deer

as Maj. Elliot

David Macaulay: Roman City

1994

as Gaius Valerius (voice)

9.0

Much Ado About Nothing

1993

as Antonio

6.9

Exam Conditions

1992

as Mr. Carksdale

Freddie As F.R.O.7.

1992

as El Supremo (voice)

5.2

Blood and Dust

1992

as Chatillon

Back in the USSR

1992

as Chazov

3.0

Old Rococo: The Life of Gioacchino Rossini

1992

as Voice of Rossini

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

as Lord Locksley

Prisoner of Honor

as Gen. Gonse

Galahad of Everest

as George Mallory/Self

8.0

The Castle of Adventure

1990

as Sam

7.5

David Macaulay: Pyramid

1989

as Ankhaf (voice)

Henry V

1989

as Exeter

7.1

The Old Man Of The Mountain

1989

as Narrator

9.0

David Macaulay: Cathedral

1986

as Master Guillaume (voice)

Doctor Who: Mindwarp

1986

as King Yrcanos

7.7

Blake's 7: The Beginning

1985

as Vargas

The Master of Ballantrae

1984

as Captain Teach

6.0

The Hound of the Baskervilles

as Geoffrey Lyons

High Road to China

as Suleman Khan

David Macaulay: Castle

as Voice

Cosmic Princess

as Mentor

Flash Gordon

as Prince Vultan

Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter

1979

as Detective Jack Noonan

A Christmas Carol

1977

as Narrator (voice)

6.6

The Eagle Has Landed

1976

as Arthur Seymour (voice) (uncredited)

6.6

A Midsummer Nightmare

1975

as Det Sgt George Briggs

King Arthur, the Young Warlord

as Mark of Cornwall

Into Infinity

as Dr. Tom Bowen

Man of La Mancha

as Pedro

Henry VIII and His Six Wives

as Suffolk

The Last Valley

as Korski

The Trojan Women

as Talthybius

The Bristol Entertainment

1971

as Cabot / Wolstan / Pocock / Colston / Pope Gregory / Dr. Beddoes

Brotherly Love

1970

as Jack Baird

5.9

Wine of India

1970

as Will

Son of Man

1969

as Peter

Till Death Us Do Part

1969

as Sergeant

7.2

The Double Agent

1969

as Reg Sugden

The Christmas Tree

1966

7.0

Television (87)

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

2022

as Self – Actor

2.8

Best & Bester

2022

as Shouty Shirt (Voice)

Blankety Blank

as Self - Panellist

Close Enough

as Sir Jack Kleghorn (voice)

7.9

The Russell Howard Hour

2017

as Self

8.0

Danger Mouse

2015

as Santa Claus (voice)

The Kumars

as Self

Wizards vs Aliens

as The Nekross King (voice)

7.5

The Amazing World of Gumball

2011

as Santa Claus (voice)

8.5

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip

2011

as Self - Participant

Sooty

as Father Christmas

Take Me Out

as Announcer (voice)

Fee Fi Fo Yum

as GTV Announcer

In Confidence

All Star Mr & Mrs

The Underdog Show

Would I Lie to You?

as Self

Britain's Got More Talent

2007

as Self - Narrator

2.8

Saving Planet Earth UK

2007

as Himself - Presenter

Peppa Pig

2004

as Grampy Rabbit (voice)

6.6

Who Do You Think You Are?

2004

as Self

6.7

The Paul O'Grady Show

as Self

The Royal

as Sir Edward Fawcett

7.6

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

2002

as Self

6.1

Fun at the Funeral Parlour

2001

7.0

The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything

2000

Family Guy

1999

as Prince Vultan (voice)

7.4

The Big Knights

1999

as Sir Morris

8.0

The Heaven and Earth Show

Fantasy World Cup

as Self

The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling

1997

as Squire Western

7.0

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher

as Captain (voice)

Soccer AM

as Self

Johnny and the Dead

as William Stickers

GMTV

as Self

Sooty & Co.

as Santa Claus

Lady Chatterley

as Petty Officer

Pebble Mill

as Self

Have I Got News for You

1990

as Self - Host

7.1

The Castle of Adventure

1990

as Sam

A Question Of Entertainment

1988

Crossbow

1987

6.2

My Family and Other Animals

1987

as Spiro

5.4

The Gnostics

1987

as Guilhabert De Castres

Lovejoy

1986

as Harry Catapodis

7.3

John Silver's Return to Treasure Island

as Long John Silver

MacGyver

as Atticus

The Last Days of Pompeii

as Olinthus

Blackadder

as King Richard IV

Natural World

The Kenny Everett Television Show

1982

as Self

7.0

The Little World of Don Camillo

1981

as Peppone

10.0

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

as Detective Sergeant Jack Nolan

6.7

Minder

1979

as Freddie Dyer

6.8

The Aphrodite Inheritance

as Basileos

Blake's 7

as Vargas

I, Claudius

as Augustus

I, Claudius

as Augustus

Nobody's House

as Jack Treadful

The Sweeney

as Frank Kemble

Space: 1999

as Cabot Rowland

Survivors

as Brod

The Day After Tomorrow

as Dr. Tom Bowen

Churchill's People

as Guthrum

Boy Dominic

as William Woodcock

Notorious Woman

Thriller

as Det Sgt George Briggs

6.6

European Heritage

1973

as Narrator (voice)

Arthur of the Britons

as Mark of Cornwall

Shirley's World

Justice

as Tiger Lawson

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

as Jim Lawsey

The Expert

as Hubert Innes

Cold Comfort Farm

as Reuben Starkadder

The Further Adventures of the Musketeers

as Porthos

The Three Musketeers

as Porthos

BBC Play of the Month

as Sgt. Kite

The Troubleshooters

as Eddie Barnaby

Public Eye

as Rev. William Pratt

The Wednesday Play

as Peter

Doctor Who

as King Yrcanos

Z-Cars

as PC William "Fancy" Smith

Z-Cars

as PC Fancy Smith

The Avengers

as Mark Dayton

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

as Captain Teach

8.6

Have I Got a Bit More News for You

as Self - Presenter

7.0

Crew (1)

Movies (1)

King Lear

1999

Director