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.
Brian Blessed
Mr. Prenderghast
for Mr. Prenderghast in ParaNorman
Suggested by davidgracian
In Blithe Hollow, the outcast boy Norman Babcock lives with his father Perry, his mother Sandra and his teenage sister Courtney. Norman is considered a freak by his schoolmates since he speaks to the dead, including his grandmother who watches horror movies on television with him. However nobody believes that Norman has this ability besides his friend Neil. Norman's deranged uncle Mr. Prenderghast meets Norman and tells him that he must protect Blithe Hollow from a witch's curse. Soon Mr. Prenderghast dies and his ghost explains to Norman that he should get his book and perform a ritual in the witch's grave. Norman finds the book - a fairytale - and then goes to the seven graves where the men who condemned the witch are buried. However, Norman is interrupted by the school bully Alvin, and the dead arise and invade the town. Soon Norman has a dream and finds that the witch is the girl Agatha that was sentenced to death in 1712 due to her medium ability. Now Norman needs to convince Agatha that her revenge is making her the same as those who killed her.
