CHISWICK!
FRESH HORSES!!
"HELLO! I'M BRIAN BLESSED! AND I'M DOING THIS WEEK'S BBC RADIO FOUR APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE DEAF!!!!" Click here. Receive ham.Perhaps best known in America as Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen in the
Flash Gordon movie ("GORDON'S ALIVE?!" "DIIIIIIIIIVVEEEEE!!"), he is widely regarded as one of the
Largest Hams in existence. However, he is by nature a stage actor, and his hamming is by design, not by ineptitude or accident. 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 probably aware of why people hire him).
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. No doubt due to his hamminess causing an avalanche to send him tumbling down.
* He 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.
Stephen Fry, off of the telly.
When not actively being a
Large Ham (or sometimes
at the same time
, actually), Blessed is also an archetypal
Boisterous Bruiser.
Along with
Diana Rigg and
Jeremy Clarkson, he's from Doncaster. The fact that Doncaster is now also home to an extensive school and college for the deaf may not be coincidental.
Old friend of
Patrick Stewart who he describes having known from age 9 and studying
William Shakespeare in his home. Mentions his father being adamant that his son wouldn't follow him down the mines.
In his personal life, Blessed is almost but not quite the exact opposite of his stage persona. Blessed is a mild-mannered and soft-spoken man, who is a vegetarian, practices meditation and spends a lot of time caring for abused animals.
Tropes related to BRIAN BLESSED:
- Actor Allusion: Blessed's character in I, Clavdivs — and, seemingly, his delivery — were referenced in a cameo in Gladiator, in which - despite appearing in only three frames of film - Blessed's characteristic roar can be heard to demand 'KILL HIM!' clearly above the din of the crowd.
- Badass Beard
- Badass Grandpa: He is also the oldest man to have reached the North Pole on foot and until recently held the record for the highest Everest ascent without oxygen.
- Badass Teacher: He was in the running to be elected Chancellor of Cambridge University. Despite a compelling speech, Lord Sainsbury won instead. Bollocks.
- Big Fun: Even when playing Santa to introduce the Music Channel's 'Magic's Christmas Top 50' he manages to be a wonderful ho-ho-ham.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Brian Blessed is a sexual yeti. That bit where Vultan plays grab-ass with Dale wasn't in the script.
- Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity: Outside of acting he has made several attempts to climb Mount Everest, although it's hard to see why - all he really needs to do is stand next to it (or perhaps glare ferociously until it crumbles in submission).
- Gentle Giant: Blessed may be calmer than apparent. During the filming of Prisoner of Honor he reportedly managed to keep Oliver Reed sober by sheer force of being big and scary.
- In real life his favorite food is cows, which he eats whole and in one gulp. (Seriously, though, he's a vegetarian and regular meditator).
- Happily Married: He reportedly once accused his daughter's boyfriend of dating her to get close to him; he may have been joking.
- LARGE HAM: There's a reason his name is in bold, all caps letters through out this site.
- The Merch: You need a Brian Blessed alarm clock.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: It is said by some that the character of Destruction (a sentient personification of difficult changes who has quit his job to become an artist) from The Sandman is based on him. Since author Neil Gaiman is one of the ones who says this, it is perhaps true but no less unlikely. Gaiman is deadset on having Blessed play the role of Destruction in a movie adaptation.
- No Indoor Voice: He's so loud, even his handwriting is shouting!
- Odd Friendship: Surprisingly, Keanu Reeves claimed in an interview on British radio that during filming of Much Ado About Nothing, Blessed befriended him and taught him how to meditate. Moviegoers may attribute Reeves' performance to that fact — though one wonders why in the hell Brian Blessed wasn't the one taking lessons from Keanu on the subject.
- Another according to QI: his love of boxing in his youth put him him on good terms with the Dalai Lama (who liked to box in his youth, also): he sparred with the Dalai Lama!
- Promoted Fanboy: When he was a child, he, his brother and their friends played a game based on the ''Flash Gordon"-TV series. Brian would always insist on the part of Vultan. Some decades later, he was offered to play Vultan in the 1980 film adaptation.
- Skunk Stripe: His beard looks like Pepé Le Pew's tail.
- What Could Have Been: He was cast as Odin in Thor, a part Blessed was born to play, but then Anthony Hopkins got the part instead.
Selected works:
AdvertisingFilmLive-action tv- In 1977, he appeared as the villainous hunter Brod in the third season Survivors episode "Law of the Jungle". He put in a performance that for anyone else would be over the top. For him, it qualifies as subtle. "You're not a tax inspector, are you, Charlie?!"
- He served up not one, but two large portions in Space 1999; the first as Dr. Cabot Rowland in first season episode "Death's Other Dominion", the second as Maya's father Mentor in second season opener "The Metamorph".
- His crowning moment of hamness is the Blake's 7 episode "Cygnus Alpha" in which just about every line he speaks could be replaced with "Did somebody order a LARGE HAM?".
- Was also in the first season of Blackadder as King Richard IV ("Chiswick! Fresh horses!").
- Played his best and most favourite role as the sympathetic, tragically naive (yet still occasionally bombastic) emperor Augustus in the acclaimed British mini-series I, Clavdivs. ("IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER?!!!")
- Played his part in the development of the British cop show by being Cowboy Cop "Fancy" Smith in Z Cars, the villain in the first episode of The Sweeney... note Playing Against Type as he only shouts once in the whole episode.
- ...And a Corrupt Cop in an episode of Minder.
- He taught MacGyver archaeology as part of Mac's Expansion Pack Past as seen in the Mac Gyver Lost Treasure Of Atlantis telemovie.
- Known to British viewers as Spiro in the 1987 version of the TV series My Family And Other Animals.
- He has also been sighted presenting Unbeatable Banzuke, 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.
- Appeared in Have I Got News for You, in a bizarre performance which was possibly so good it broke time. We'll just have to wait and see.
- He will host HIGNFY again on April 12th....
- Also with Paul Merton he appeared on Room 101 demonstrating that his loudness was a choice in response to newsreader and presenter Kirsty Young wanting to put unnecessarily loud people in Room 101. Blessed took the role of a whispering snooker commentator for about 26 seconds.
- He was on a Christmas episode of QI, in which he pulled Sean Lock off of his chair TWICE (by accident).
- Recently appeared in The Wrong Door as Captain Goitier the train pirate.
- In season 23 of Doctor Who, he's King Yrcanos.
Theatre- He was the first to play old Deuteronomy in Cats. He was the one who came out after the show finished to tell the audience that there was a bomb alert.
Video Games- Additionally, he narrated Viking Battle For Asgard in which his narration stole the show and catapulted said game into the halls of awesome!
- He collaborated with Studio Fatshark for a Downloadable Content package for the game War of the Roses, allowing players to give his voice to their avatars in the game.
Web Original- In late 2009, Blessed played a time-displaced Henry VIII in the short internet series Henry 8.0.
- He lent his distinctive voice to the Weebl & Bob documentary on their first-year DVD.
Western Animation- He's also appeared in Tarzan as Clayton, and went on to reprise the role in Kingdom Hearts. His performance was still quite hamlike. He also provided the "Tarzan yell" for the film.
- He's the Pirate King in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!. The film has numerous ham jokes and the levels of loudness on the Pirate of the Year form include "Brian Blessed" as the loudest possible level.
- He voiced Santa in the Christmas episode of The Amazing World of Gumball. He's noted as the first major guest-star voice on that series.
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