History Creator / BRIANBLESSED

->''"HELLO! I'M '''BRIAN BLESSED!''' AND I'M DOING THIS WEEK'S BBC RADIO FOUR APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE DEAF!!!"''

We all have that one friend that we know who '''''HAS {{NO INDOOR VOICE}}!''''' You know - the one who is '''''REALLY LOUD AND NOISY'''''. Now, meet their King... '''''BRIAN BLESSED!''''' [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever OBE]] (born 9 October 1936 in Mexborough, England)

* In Tom Anderson’s alternate history “The Unreformed Kingdom”, “Mr. Blessed” is the returning officer for the Doncaster by-election, causing someone to grumble that people will probably hear the results three miles away.

* He has also been sighted presenting ''Series/UnbeatableBanzuke'', enthusiastically, in the guise of "Banzuke Brian" attired in what appears to be red plastic faux-samurai armour several sizes too small, on the [=UK's=] Challenge telly channel.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

-->Honestly, Peter, I don’t want to work with someone who behaves like you do. I am ashamed of you as an artist. Actors look after their bodies, they study and study to try and better themselves. Yet you have a God-given talent and all you do is piss on it. You’re either off your face, angry or violent. You bully and manipulate people. You’re marvellous for a time, and then you’re ugly once again. You’re a good-for-nothing shit, O’Toole. That’s what I’ve come to tell you!

** Patrick Stewart wanted him to play the corrupt [[https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Matthew_Dougherty Admiral Dougherty]] in [[Film/StarTrekInsurrection Star Trek: Insurrection]], a role that ultimately went to significantly quieter actor Anthony Zerbe.

* He's also a voice actor in most animated adaptations of Creator/DavidMacaulay's architectural books, including ''WesternAnimation/{{Castle}}'' (as Master James of Babbington), ''WesternAnimation/{{Cathedral|Documentary}}'' (as Master Guillaume de Solis), and ''WesternAnimation/{{Pyramid}}'' (as Grand Vizier Ankhaf). Viewers used to his LargeHam tendencies will be quite surprised to learn he's actually a bit more of a ColdHam in these works.

* He's also a voice actor in most animated adaptations of Creator/DavidMacaulay's architectural books, including ''WesternAnimation/{{Castle}}'' (as Master James of Babbington), ''WesternAnimation/{{Cathedral}}'' (as Master Guillaume de Solis), and ''WesternAnimation/{{Pyramid}}'' (as Grand Vizier Ankhaf). Viewers used to his LargeHam tendencies will be quite surprised to learn he's actually a bit more of a ColdHam in these works.

* He had a brief role in a episode of ''Series/ToastOfLondon'' as the dying father of the lead character Steven Toast (played by fellow [[LargeHam ham]] Creator/MattBerry).

* TheTeetotaler: Believe it or not, unlike many other actors of his generation, he doesn't touch alcohol, believing it to bring out the more unpleasant parts of his personality. This is part of the reason why he had the tempestuous relationship that he did with Peter O'Toole, detailed below, because BLESSED felt that O'Toole was one of the most gifted actors of all time but was letting those talents go to waste due to his excessive drinking.

He keeps in shape by climbing up large mountains. About the only thing on Earth larger than '''BRIAN BLESSED''' is Mount Everest, which he has attempted to scale three times without ''quite'' reaching the summit each time. Indeed, he has a story about narrowly avoiding an avalanche during a climb which caused him to, quote, "rage at the mountain". Yes, BRIAN BLESSED bellowed Mt Everest itself into submission. He also had to rescue a companion who broke his leg on one occasion, halting a mere (mountain climbing terms) few hundred feet from the summit, according to that nice Mr. Creator/StephenFry, off of the telly. By way of compensation, he instead became the oldest man to reach the North Magnetic Pole on foot, where he says he punched a polar bear on the nose.

->''"HELLO! I'M [[AC: BRIAN BLESSED!]] AND I'M DOING THIS WEEK'S BBC RADIO FOUR APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE DEAF!!!"''

* He had a live-action role in the otherwise-execrable ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' SpinOff ''VideoGame/Privateer2TheDarkening''. [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment A certain notorious web critic]] gave it a good skewering (though he regarded the non-playable FMV bits to be fairly sound).

Perhaps best known in America as Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen in the ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'' movie ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW8kDtzirpA GORDON'S ALIVE?!]]" "DIIIIIIIIIVVEEEEE!!"), he is widely regarded as one of the [[LargeHam Largest Hams]] in existence. However, he is by nature a stage actor, and his hamming is by design. As he has proven on (very) occasional films, he is actually capable of delivering a subtle and understated performance; he just usually doesn't bother (and is fully aware that people usually hire him to be larger-than-life).

We all have that one friend that we know who '''''HAS NO INDOOR VOICE!''''' You know - the one who is '''''REALLY LOUD AND NOISY'''''. Now, meet their King... '''''BRIAN BLESSED!''''' [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever OBE]] (born 9 October 1936 in Mexborough, England)

** He also voices a polar bear version of Santa in ''[[WesternAnimation/DangerMouse Danger Mouse (2015)]]''.

* General Ciaos in ''Asterix and the Big Fight'', a large, bad tempered shouty man who sings opera in the bathtub, is voiced in the British English dub by....
* Played Grampy Rabbit in several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig''.
* His voice is readily recognizable in the third and final season of ''Literature/LittlePrincess'' in which he voices Princess's high-spirited Uncle Walter.
* He voiced the villain El Suprimo in the [[invoked]][[SoBadItsGood bewildering]] 1992 feature ''WesternAnimation/FreddieAsFRO7''.

* BadassBaritone: When he isn't [[LargeHam bellowing at the top of his lungs]], Brian Blessed shows that he has a pretty good singing voice, and can perform opera. His impression of tenor and fellow LargeHam Luciano Pavarotti is [[https://youtu.be/MZW3RWBKOuw surprisingly good]].