No. 34 Brian Blessed: An Appraisal

You may have heard of the Stanislavsky method of acting, studied by students of the greasepaint, the length and breadth of the globe. Or there’s the equally influential Lee Strasberg Institute, where greats such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, the recently deceased Paul Newman, and Arthur Mullard learnt their craft.

With this firmly in mind, it is with the utmost of pride that Not What it Used to Be can reveal that we have been exclusively chosen to announce the opening of The Brian Blessed School of Acting – ‘Where the Beard Outweighs the Performance‘.

For those of you unfamiliar with either the man or what is known as the Blessed method of acting, allow me to elucidate a trifle further.

Brian Blessed has been hailed as one of the greatest actors of his generation by both his mother and his wife. He sports a beard you’d be hard pressed to find a badger in and isn’t ashamed who knows it. He is also the master of the naturalistic, understated performance; exemplified by his role as ‘Shouty Man No. 3′ in MacGuyver: The Lost Treasure of Atlantis, which is said to have brought a tear to the eye of every man and woman in the Theatre Lumiere, the night it was awarded the prestigious Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

But such acclaim wasn’t always the case. This cove of considerable bluffness was once a jobbing actor taking bit-parts and character roles wherever and whenever they came along. It was a clean-shaven Blessed who appeared in the British TV standard, Z-Cars, and went on to guest in shows such as Minder, The Sweeney, and Doctor Who. But a complete lack of on-screen presence meant that the success and plaudits he sought continually eluded him.

That was until the release of 1980’s Flash Gordon.

Said by some to be the greatest film ever made, these sentiments were echoed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who lauded the sci-fi epic with an unprecedented 27 Oscars, one of which went to Blessed for ‘Best Beard in a Motion Picture’.

It was this beard that signalled the turnaround he’d been waiting for. Prior to Flash Gordon, Blessed had shunned all forms of facial furniture in the naive belief that he would get by on talent alone. But in an industry notorious for judging a man not on his talent but on the length of his beard, it was not to be the case.

Fortunately for us as a nation of Blessed watchers and beard enthusiasts, those days have long gone.

Armed with an Oscar, a beard, and an acting range the likes of which had not been seen before, Blessed has gone on to conquer stage and screen, as well as the hearts and minds of the viewing public at large.

His CV reads like a thespian bible with such memorable performances as ‘Shouty Man with Beard’ in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves; ‘Shouty Alien with Beard’ in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace; and ‘Shouty Man with Beard Buying a Scotch Egg’ in Schindler’s List.

He is the consummate professional; the actor’s actor. Undoubtedly the finest bellower to have brandished a beard on stage or screen. One can only wait with frenzied anticipation, following the recent announcement that Blessed is to start sporting a rather dapper trilby.

The combination of hat, whisker, and a king-sized delivery of dialogue will surely propel what is already a legend within his own lunchtime, into the realms of the showbiz invincible.

I tip my trilby to you, sir.

*The Brian Blessed School of Acting – ‘If the Scenery moves, chew it’ – is now enrolling.

Coming soon: Fanshawe’s ‘Dickie Davies: A Sporting Fellow’

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