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Brian Blessed

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This article is about the English actor. For the mythical figure, see Bran the Blessed.
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed at Cambridge Film Festival 2007
SpouseHildegarde Neil

Brian Blessed (Template:Pron-en; born 9 October 1937, Yorkshire, UK) is an English actor, author and adventurer. He is known for his loud, booming voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".[1]

Early life

The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in Goldthorpe, Mexborough, near Doncaster, Yorkshire, England[2]. He attended Bolton-on-Dearne Secondary Modern School, but was forced to leave school early and spent several years working at a variety of jobs, ranging from undertaker to plasterer's assistant to time in the RAF. He began his training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has written about his early life in his autobiography, Dynamite Kid (1992).

Career

At the beginning of his career, Blessed had small roles in such cult shows as The Avengers and the original Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). His first well-known role was that of PC 'Fancy' Smith in the BBC police drama Z Cars from 1962 to 1965.

He then went on to portray Caesar Augustus in the BBC series I, Claudius, for which performance he won the New York Critics Award. 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, Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing, The Ghost of Hamlet's Father in Hamlet and the dual role of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in As You Like It.

Other roles have emphasised his comedic abilities: notably Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon (1980); 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). [3] He also played the role of General Yevlenko in the 1988 mini-series War and Remembrance. Blessed claims he almost starred in Blackadder II (1986) as Queen Elizabeth but he wasn't available at the time of filming. [4]

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.

Blessed has also starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats as both Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones during the original London 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.

Since October 2008, Blessed presents the UK showings of the Japanese gameshow Unbeatable Banzuke on the Challenge channel under the name Banzuke Brian.

Other achievements

Blessed is also an adventurer. He climbed Mont Blanc at the age of seventeen, and he has remained an active mountaineer throughout his life.[5] Though he has never reached the summit, he has tried to climb Mount Everest on three separate occasions. During his attempt in 1993, the then 56-year-old climbed higher than any other man of his age;[6] the height record was later broken by Yuichiro Miura in 2003. He has successfully climbed Aconcagua in Argentina as well as Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He also holds the record for being the oldest man to trek on foot to the magnetic North Pole,[6] and has undertaken an expedition deep into the jungles of Venezuela.

In 2004, he sang on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes as Luciano Pavarotti. Blessed is also 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 was a guest host of Have I Got News for You in May 2008 (later making a surprise appearance in the Christmas special later in the year). In the same month he appeared as a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show.

He has been a contestant of the second series of The Underdog Show.

He is the current President of the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC), 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.

Blessed has a black belt in Judo.[7]

Personal life

Blessed now lives in Surrey. He married the actress Hildegarde Neil Zimmermann in 1978 and they have one daughter, Rosalind.[7] He also has a number of dogs.

Blessed is a lifelong friend of another noted Shakespearean and sci-fi veteran Patrick Stewart,[1] whom he first met at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

He supports Newcastle United football club. On Soccer AM (Sky Sports 1, 10 January 2009) Blessed admitted he also supports Manchester United. He has also been quoted as saying that he supports his home town club Doncaster Rovers

Selected TV and film work

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)

References

  1. ^ a b "Biography for Brian Blessed". IMDB. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  2. ^ "Brian Blessed". NNDB. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  3. ^ "Gerald Durrell's lasting legacy". 15 September 2006. Retrieved 2008-05-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Brian Blessed Web Chat". The Guardian. 22 August2001. Retrieved 2008-09-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Sims, Josh. "Brian Blessed". EasyJet Inflight. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  6. ^ a b Benedictus, Leo (29 July 2003). "Why I love Brian Blessed". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  7. ^ a b Sleeman, Elizabeth (2003). The International Who's Who 2004: 2004 (67 ed.). Routledge. p. 176. ISBN 9781857432176.


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