Age: 89
male
Brian Blessed OBE (born 9 October 1936) is an English actor. He is 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; Bustopher Jones and Old Deuteronomy in the 1981 original London production of Cats at the New London Theatre; Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, in Henry V; Boss Nass in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace; and the voice of Clayton and the Tarzan yell in Disney's Tarzan. In 2016, Blessed was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts and charity. Blessed was born on 9 October 1936 at Montagu Hospital in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of William Blessed, a socialist coal miner at Hickleton Main Colliery (and himself the son of a coal miner) and cricketer for the Yorkshire second team, and Hilda (née Wall). He had a brother Alan, seven years younger, and the pair "went everywhere together" when they were growing up. Alan Blessed died from leukaemia aged 52; their mother died aged 87, and their father died aged 99. Blessed's great-great-grandfather, Jabez Blessed, was the father of 13 children and worked as a china and glass dealer in Brigg, Lincolnshire; many of Blessed's relatives hail from Brigg. Blessed went to Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School, and completed his national service in the RAF, in Bicester, before enrolling at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1956.
A young prince of the pride lands, Simba, is born to rule everything the light touches. But his destiny is shattered when his father, Mufasa, has been killed. Fleeing from his homeland, Simba is captured by humans and shipped off to India. Alone and caged, he is rescued by a jungle boy named Mowgli, and his friends Baloo and Bagheera. Meanwhile, Scar is now the king of the pride lands, but since there's no other meat left, Scar decides to move with the pride and hyenas all across Africa where they are confronted by Tarzan and the Apes. Simba all grown up has to return to Africa because he is the rightful king, the jungle trio comes to his aid, while being followed by Shere Khan. Now the battle for Africa begins. Simba, Tarzan, Mowgli and Baloo all come together to defeat Scar, Shere Khan, and Tublat. But as if this adventure couldn't get any more wild, they all fall into the hidden world of dinosaurs (that one episode from The Legend of Tarzan), where Littlefoot and his friends help the jungle heroes escape while facing another predator, the Sharptooth! It's Disney's most epic 4-hour animated crossover event ever made! It’s a grand tale where the Circle of Life, The Bare Necessities, Two Worlds, One Family, and The Land Before Time collide in an unforgettable jungle adventure!
