Brian Blessed

Brian Blessed OBE (born 9 October 1936) is a renowned English actor 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 among others. His energetic performances have spanned across both stage and screen, including four of the five Shakespeare films directed by Kenneth Branagh. Additionally, he is also an accomplished voice actor, lending his voice to several animated feature films including Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Disney's Tarzan.

Born on 9 October 1936 in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, Blessed pursued acting career with vigor, enrolling at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1956 and since then has held an active career in the industry. Blessed's adventurous spirit has not been just limited to his acting roles. He has also attempted to climb Mount Everest three times without supplemental oxygen and survived a plane crash during an expedition into the jungles of Venezuela. Additionally, he devotes an ample amount of his time to charitable causes, for which he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to the arts and charity.