\u2018A mighty wind, a tree of life\u2019<\/p>\n
Emma Thompson<\/p>\n
I know why Brian has lasted this long in spite of falling out of helicopters and off mountains and into lakes all his life: he started the whole being-cold-keeps-you-healthy thing years before Wim Hof was doing his motivational speaking.<\/p>\n
Once, when we were shooting Ken Branagh\u2019s Henry V at Shepperton, it was very cold out. I went to visit Brian in his dressing room. I was in my costume for the Princess of France, a lovely off-the-shoulder number. All the windows were open. It was bloody freezing. Brian started to tell me a story about Everest. I sat there, fascinated, getting colder and colder. He noticed \u2013 after some time \u2013 and said: \u201cThompson, why are you wearing blue lipstick?\u201d<\/p>\n
I tried to speak but my jaw had frozen in its sockets. He bundled me out into the heated corridors where I spent a good hour getting my body up to a functioning temperature. \u201cThe cold is good for you!\u201d he thundered. And by God he was right. I took a cold shower every day after that.<\/p>\n
\u2018The cold is good for you!\u2019 \u2026 with Kenneth Branagh in Henry V. Photograph: Landmark Media\/Alamy<\/p>\n
The man is a legend: a force, a mighty wind and a great tree of life. He has the soul of a mountain-top. I will always love him deeply and appreciate his kindness to a young actress, his wit and fun and energy and gaiety, his loudness and his madness.<\/p>\n
\u2018Now get to 100!\u2019<\/p>\n
Derek Jacobi<\/p>\n
We first worked together at Birmingham Rep in 1960 when we would do a different play every month. It was my first job and he was the star of the show. I was in awe of him. He was still in his 20s but had a huge personality even then. I ended up sharing a dressing room with him, which was an education in itself. He was not particularly restrained \u2013 not when it came to pissing in the sink!<\/p>\n
\u2018He was not particularly restrained\u2019 \u2026 with Derek Jacobi in I, Claudius. Photograph: Landmark Media\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Brian is full of bluster and bigness, but underneath it all, he is as sensitive as the rest of us. He is a true man of the theatre and it was wonderful to learn from him. The next thing we did together was I, Claudius, in which he was marvellous as Augustus. Off-stage, he\u2019s full of bonhomie, a great companion. Everything about him is big: his laughter, everything. But he\u2019s not ego-driven: he\u2019s just great company. My message to him is get to 100 and we\u2019ll all be there applauding! We\u2019re all applauding at 90 too!<\/p>\n
\u2018Wow, he just says anything!\u2019<\/p>\n
Dexter Fletcher<\/p>\n
\u2018He had a healthy belief in being who you are\u2019 \u2026 Blessed as Claudius and Dexter Fletcher as the Player Queen in Hamlet in 1984. Photograph: Donald Cooper\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
I worked with Brian in the 1984 season at the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon. I was in a couple of productions that he was in: Henry V, with Kenneth Branagh playing Young Hal and Brian playing the Duke of Exeter; and Hamlet, when Brian played Claudius and Virginia McKenna was Gertrude.<\/p>\n
He came with this energy, exuberance and lust for life. I\u2019d never seen anybody like him. He had a healthy belief in being who you are. He would talk about his cock quite openly: \u201cThat big blue vein on the side of your dick.\u201d Branagh would be laughing, a lot of people would be shocked and Virginia McKenna didn\u2019t seem fazed by it at all. I was 18 thinking: \u201cWow, he just says anything!\u201d<\/p>\n
Towards the end of the season, I got an offer of an acting role in a film called Revolution with Al Pacino. It was a big movie and I was only 18. Hamlet was going into the Barbican in London. I didn\u2019t know what decision to make. It was Brian who took me aside at a rehearsal space at the back of the theatre and said: \u201cListen, Dexter, go and do the movie because the movie world is small and when you get into it, if you make a success of it, you\u2019re in and it\u2019s a great living.\u201d<\/p>\n
It led to a lot of movies \u2013 so I have a great love and affection for him because he did me a huge favour by shoving me in that direction.<\/p>\n
\u2018He pinched my bottom. It was perfect for the scene\u2019<\/p>\n
Melody Anderson<\/p>\n
I remember watching I, Claudius as I grew up and thinking Brian Blessed was an incredible actor. I was 23 and it was so exciting to meet him on the set of Flash Gordon<\/a> and hear his Shakespearean voice bellow throughout the stages.<\/p>\n It was a tough shoot, six days a week, 12 hours a day, and to have his lightness and sense of humour to alleviate the stress of the job was a gift. He was as indefatigable off screen as he was as Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen. Brian did not have to stretch to create a character because that\u2019s him. He is a Hawkman! He takes the space, the voice is always bellowing and there is that sly smile and twinkle in his eyes \u2013 which he still has at 90.<\/p>\n There is nothing more exciting than to work with an actor who is so inventive. Playing Dale Arden, I was on this table when we land on his planet and he was spinning me around and he just gave me a little bottom pinch. As an actor, I loved it because it solicited such an honest response. He gave me a whole other level of energy. It was exactly right for the character because it let me act like this haughty, temper-driven girl who beats up the guards at the king\u2019s palace. It worked perfectly for the scene. Mike Hodges, the director, was thrilled.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s not his ego \u2013 it\u2019s a life force\u2019 \u2026 with Melody Anderson and Sam J Jones in Flash Gordon. Photograph: THA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n When I was at conventions with Sam J Jones, who played Flash, we would sit back and be quiet and Brian would be off, pacing back and forth across the stage and taking over. We would smile and let it be the Brian show. He takes over any place he\u2019s in. It\u2019s not an ego thing: it\u2019s a life force. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever met anyone who has such energy and self-confidence.<\/p>\n He also has an enormous capacity to be sensitive. It\u2019s a form of empathy to be able to pick up on the energies of the people around him and try to uplift their state if they were a little bit down.<\/p>\n Blessings to Brian Blessed! He is a gift in my life and I\u2019m better for knowing him.<\/p>\n \u2018He appeared in our badger crusade video\u2019<\/p>\n Brian May<\/p>\n I\u2019m old enough to remember Brian\u2019s first appearance on TV. He was in Z-Cars and even then he was an impressive character. Getting to work with him on the Flash Gordon<\/a> film was the most amazing thing. I didn\u2019t see him on set, I just saw him on footage that had been shot as the days went by. We were in the studio, playing along to it all, so I felt I knew him better than I actually did.<\/p>\n While everyone went back to finish the album Queen was making at the time, I made the soundtrack album for Flash Gordon. I pieced together lots of dialogue, sound effects and music \u2013 and you can hear Brian loud and clear. He\u2019s a musical part of what we achieved, like an extra member of Queen.<\/p>\n \u2018He cares deeply and passionately about animals\u2019 \u2026 Brian May at a Stop the Cull protest in 2013. Photograph: REX\/Julian Makey<\/p>\n For years, I used to see him around Windlesham in Surrey where my studio is. He often popped in to help us with our badger crusades. He did a great appearance in our Badger Badger Badger<\/a> video, doing the Brian Blessed everybody wants, very loud and distinctive, shouting: \u201cKeep the badgers alive!\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s blustery and apparently super-confident, but we saw a side of him that cares deeply and passionately about animals. Whenever we\u2019ve asked him for help, he has always come straight away. I\u2019ve seen him sit and talk movingly about the way we don\u2019t accommodate wild animals in the world we\u2019ve built. I see him as a very deep human being.<\/p>\n A very happy 90th to you, Brian. What an important piece you have been in the jigsaw of my life. I\u2019ll forever be grateful to you and will forever enjoy the humanity and individuality you bring to all your work.<\/p>\n \u2018He never seems to conk out\u2019<\/p>\n Alan Hinkes<\/p>\n Blessed at Everest base camp. Photograph: Steve Back\/ANL\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n