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Countless television roles include: Augustus Caesar in 'I CLAUDIUS' for
which he received the New York Critics Award; PC Fancy Smith in 'Z
CARS'; Porthos in 'THE THREE MUSKETEERS'; Pepone in 'THE LITTLE WORLD OF
DON CAMILLO'; Spiro in 'MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS'; the title role in
'THE JOY OF BACH'; Richard IV in 'BLACK ADDER' and the larger than life
Squire Western in the BBC's classic drama series 'TOM JONES'
On Film, Brian played Talthybius in 'TROJAN WOMEN' in which he was
thrilled to co-star with Katherine Hepburn, Irene Papas and Vanessa
Redgrave. He played Vultan in the ever popular 'FLASH GORDON'; Pedro in
'MAN OF LA MANCHA'; Long John Silver in 'RETURN TO TREASURE ISLAND';
General Zukov in 'WAR AND REMEMBRANCE' and Lord Locksley in 'ROBIN HOOD
- PRINCE OF THIEVES' with Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman. In Kenneth
Branagh's 'HENRY V' he played Exeter; in 'MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING' he
played Antonio and in 'HAMLET' he played Hamlet's Father and the Ghost.
Brian has worked with some of this country's great orchestras. At the
Royal Festival Hall he appeared with The London Symphony Orchestra and
massed choirs performing Arthur Bliss' 'MORNING HEROES'. He followed
this with the inevitable 'PETER AND THE WOLF' with the Bolshoi Symphony
Orchestra in Birmingham, Prokofiev's 'IVAN THE TERRIBLE' with the Royal
National Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow and he has recorded 'A YOUNG
PERSONS GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA'.
Brian has a thriving career as a best-selling author. He has written
five books: 'THE TURQUOISE MOUNTAIN', 'THE DYNAMITE KID', 'NOTHING'S
IMPOSSIBLE' and 'BLESSED EVEREST', an inspiring abbreviated history of
Everest, which includes many magnificent photographs. His fifth book,
entitled 'QUEST TO THE LOST WORLD' was published in 1999. Brian loves
writing and would write a great deal more if he could find the time!
Since the late sixties Brian has had a great love of mountaineering and
a great desire to stand on 'the top of the world'. He has been on three
expeditions to Mount Everest. The first to make the film 'GALAHAD OF
EVEREST', a tribute to George Leigh Mallory. In 1993 he returned to
Everest, this time to climb the Southern side where he reached a height
of 28,000 feet - the highest a man of his age has achieved without
oxygen. He returned to the Northern side in 1996 when the climb was
filmed by a Channel 4 Television team as part of the 'ENCOUNTERS'
series. Brian has also completed a trek to the North Pole resulting in
him currently being the oldest man to reach the pole, and an expedition
to The Lost World in Venezuela - the subject of his last book.
He has also completed several a highly successful UK Tours with his
one-man show 'AN EVENING WITH BRIAN BLESSED' and is sought after on the
corporate market, either as an entertaining raconteur, or sharing his
inspiring story of ascending Everest.
Brian lives in Surrey with his wife, the actress Hildegard Neil. They
share their home with numerous dogs, ponies, fish, cats, ducks and fish
!! They have one daughter, Rosalind, who is also an actress. |