Our Price: £12.00 Price Excludes VAT

Brian Blessed Signed 10 x 8 Photograph of Boss Nass

Signed 10 x 8 Photograph of Boss Nass signed by Brian Blessed This is an orginal autograph and not a copy.

At the beginning of his career, Blessed had small roles in such cult shows as The Avengers and the original Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). His first well-known role was that of PC 'Fancy' Smith in the BBC police drama Z Cars from 1962 to 1965.

He then went on to portray Caesar Augustus in the BBC series I, Claudius, for which performance he won the New York Critics Award^{[citation needed]}. He has appeared in a number of Shakespearean roles on both stage and screen, including four of the five Shakespeare films directed by Kenneth Branagh: as The Duke of Exeter in Henry V, Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing, The Ghost of Hamlet's Father in Hamlet and the dual role of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in As You Like It.

Other roles have emphasised his comedic abilities: notably Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon (1980); the mad, comic figure of Richard IV in the first series of The Black Adder (1983); and Spiro in the BBC adaptation of My Family and Other Animals (1987).^[3] He also played the role of General Yevlenko in the 1988 miniseries War and Remembrance. Blessed jokes he almost starred in Blackadder II (1986) as Queen Elizabeth but he wasn't available at the time of filming.^[4]

He provided the vocal links on the Sony-Award-winning Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio and introduced adverts for Orange mobile phones. At Christmas 2006, he presented a panto Cinderella for Virgin Radio starring actors such as David Tennant and Thandie Newton. In November 2006, Blessed made a surprise appearance on the midday talk show Loose Women. Also, he is featured reading the story "The White City Part 1" which is the final piece on the album Late Night Tales: Nightmares on Wax. Blessed was also the voice of Jean Valjean in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's audio dramatic adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

Blessed has also starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats as both Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones during the original London production. In 2002, under the direction of Royal Shakespeare Company director, Adrian Noble, Blessed originated the role of Baron Bomburst for the stage musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

During December 2005 to January 2006, Blessed headlined the pantomime production of Peter Pan, alongside CBBC Television presenter Kirsten O'Brien at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich. In late 2007 and early 2008, Blessed starred in the panto version of Peter Pan as Captain Hook at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable. He played the same role again in "Peter Pan" in late 2007, early 2008 and again at Christmas 2008 at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon.

Since October 2008, Blessed presents the UK showings of the Japanese gameshow Unbeatable Banzuke on the Challenge channel under the name Banzuke Brian. He also guest hosted an episode of Have I Got News for You in May 2008.

In May 2009, Blessed spent two nights as Narrator for Rick Wakeman's performances of The Six Wives of Henry VIII which can be seen on the DVD/BD.

Currently, Blessed is narrating the British version of Peter and the Wolf, about to start at the new victory theater in new york

« Back