Known For
Acting
Born
Dec 07, 1937
Died
Jun 30, 2025
Place of Birth
Manchester, England, UK
Credits
119 titles
Kenneth Colley
Biography
Kenneth Colley (7 December 1937 — 30 June 2025) was an English actor. A long-time character actor, he came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Colley was born in Manchester. He played Jesus (very briefly indeed) in Life of Brian (1979), having also appeared in the earlier Python-related production Ripping Yarns episode "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite" alongside Michael Palin. As a Shakespearean actor, he played the Duke of Vienna in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Measure for Measure (also 1979). Colley also held an important role in the Clint Eastwood film Firefox, as a Soviet Colonel tasked with the protection of the Firefox and its secrets. Colley portrayed SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel in the World War II drama War and Remembrance. His character was charged with hiding the evidence of the Holocaust, and putting dead victims through "Economic Processing". According to comments Terry Gilliam (who directed him in Jabberwocky and co-starred with him in Life of Brian) made in the DVD audio commentaries for both films, Colley is a terrible stutterer in real life. When he had a role in a film, however, he could recite the lines perfectly. Stuttering is a character trait, however, in his role as the "Accordion Man" in the BBC television drama Pennies from Heaven (1978). He has also recently starred in BBC's HolbyBlue as a drunk and violent father, grandfather and father-in-law. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kenneth Colley, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Filmography
The Institute
Gate Guard #5
Dan Hawk Psychic Detective
Thaddeus Moncrief
Peaky Blinders
Vicente Changretta
Scar Tissue
Weaver
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
Admiral Piett (voice)
Vera
Ronald Devreux
The Queen
Misfits
Old Rudy
Greetings
Ken
Like Father Like Son
Rawsthorne
New Tricks
The Royal
Bernard Hussey
Foyle's War
Brian Jones
Relic Hunter
Professor Lamenza
Hold Back the Night
Uncle Bob
Always and Everyone
Joseph
The Last Train
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
Archie Burlington
Shadow Run
Larcombe
Midsomer Murders
Lloyd Kirby
Brassed Off
Greasley
Robert Rylands' Last Journey
Archdale
Solomon & Sheba
Nathan
Wycliffe
Sam Peploe
Peak Practice
Stan Jordan
Unnatural Causes
Inspector Gerry Reckless
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
John Ireland
Between the Lines
Chief Supt. Tattersall
Heartbeat
Clive Harris
La Vie de Bohème
Street Sweeper
Prisoner of Honor
Capt. Dreyfus
The Last Island
Nick
I Hired a Contract Killer
The Killer
Kremlin Farewell
Sergej
The Plot to Kill Hitler
Wilhelm Keitel
The Rainbow
Mr. Brunt
A Master of the Marionettes
Inspector Tennyson
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Mathew Davenheim
War and Remembrance
Paul Blobel
A Summer Story
Jim
The Play on One
DI Tennyson
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
Chief Inspector Heat
Casanova
Le Duc
Inspector Morse
DCI Patrick Dawson
The Whistle Blower
Bill Pickett
Casualty
Paddy
John Silver's Return to Treasure Island
Ben Gunn
Mussolini: The Untold Story
King Vittorio Emmanuele
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story
Adolf Eichmann
Screen Two
Sergej