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Working various blue-collar jobs from undertaker's assistant to plasterer, Brian managed to attend the Bristol Old Vic and was off and running. He has lent his musical talents to several productions - from playing Old Deuteronomy in "Cats" to The Baron in the more recent "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". In the 1970s he began appearing more and more on-camera with both classical and contemporary performances. In costumed TV movies he has played Porthos in "The Three Musketeers" (1966) and "The Further Adventures of the Musketeers" (1967), Augustus in "I, Claudius" (1976), and Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1985) and has been a part of various reenactments including Catherine the Great (1995) (TV), Lady Chatterley (1993) (TV), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) (TV) and Kidnapped (1995) (TV). On film he's appeared in robust support in several 'William Shakespeare (I)' adaptations including Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996) and Macbeth (1997). He is married to British actress Hildegarde Neil who made an appearance with him in Macbeth (1997). More recently he appeared in Oliver Stone's epic-scale Alexander (2004) and in Kenneth Branagh's film version of Shakespeare's As You Like It (2006).

• A friend of Patrick Stewart since childhood.
• Was nearly killed when filming his death scene in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).
• In Flash Gordon (1980) his character, Prince Vultan, says "Who wants to live forever?" during the battle between the Hawkmen and Ming's Imperial Fleet. This later became the title of a Queen song on the soundtrack for Highlander (1986).
• Attempted to climb Mount Everest twice.
• As a child he and his friends used to play at Flash Gordon, inspired by the Buster Crabbe TV serials. In these childhood games Brian would always play Vultan, leader of the Hawkmen. In the 1980 film Flash Gordon he played the same role as he had in childhood.
• His younger brother Alan, seven years his junior, died in 1996 at the age of 52.