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 Ich, Claudius, Kaiser & Gott (1976),
and "Long John Silver" in
Die Rückkehr zur Schatzinsel (1986)
and has been a part of various reenactments including
Katharina die Große (1995),
Lady Chatterley (1993),
Der Hund von Baskerville (1983)
and David Balfour - Zwischen Freiheit und Tod (1995).
On film, he has appeared in robust support in several
William Shakespeare
adaptations, including Henry V. (1989),
Viel Lärm um nichts (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
Wie es euch gefällt (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); Die fantastische Welt von Gumball (2011) (as Santa Claus); Wizards vs. Aliens (2012) (as the Necross King); Henry Hugglemonster (2013) (as Eduardo Enormomonster); and Peppa Wutz (2004) as Grampy Rabbit.
He is married to British
actress Hildegard Neil, who made an
appearance with him in Macbeth (1997).
