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
Ale
for Ale in What If Doctor Who Wasn't Axed? - Panopticon (2011)
Suggested by optimistic_writer
The behind the scenes of the show was completely overhauled with new Co-Executive Producers and a new Staff Writer (instead of Script Editor) with Ronald D. Moore, with Marc Platt quitting as well. Moore completely overhauls the show, as he features The Rogue and Gregori as more so equals and ride the line of hero and anti-hero. Will Adams is now a Junior Time Lord, and a more relatable character. Then, Kendara becomes the "new" Leela (as Leela was killed last season) and her character gets bumped up majorly. The Rani was written out of the show and Francis is only now a recurring character. The show becomes much darker in tone, and is about Gregori's presidency, as well as the Time Lords versus the Vex, which was introduced last season. The story count goes from 8 to 10 episodes. The stories this series are: Rapture, Despite the Fear, The Reasons and the Rhymes, Out of Sight Out of Mind, The Rogue Factor, Vexed, The Rules of the Game, Election Day, All Tied Up, and C'est La Vie.
