Kenneth Colley
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.
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Known for
Midsomer Murders
Lloyd Kirby
Peaky Blinders
Vicente Changretta
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Mathew Davenheim
Minder
Ron
Foyle's War
Brian Jones
Play for Today
Bruce Tetley
Play for Today
Frank Benyon
Vera
Ronald Devreux
Casualty
Paddy
Casualty
Clifford Watkins
Casualty
Arthur Cobb
Heartbeat
Clive Harris
The Avengers
Crown Court
Stanley Meredith
New Tricks
BBC Play of the Month
Yolinichev
Peak Practice
Stan Jordan
Omnibus
Hitler
The Sweeney
Noah Riley
Relic Hunter
Professor Lamenza
Inspector Morse
DCI Patrick Dawson
Misfits
Old Rudy
Wycliffe
Sam Peploe
No Hiding Place
The Empire Strikes Back
Admiral Piett
The Wednesday Play
Bethold Florenberg
The Wednesday Play
Jock
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Paddy
The Institute
Gate Guard #5
Return of the Jedi
Admiral Piett
The Protectors
Devlin
The Expert
Foreman
The Expert
Munt
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Farrish
Between the Lines
Chief Supt. Tattersall
Life of Brian
Jesus
Churchill's People
Ancient Beau
Juggernaut
Detective Brown
Target
Jessal
Fall of Eagles
Father Gapon
Jabberwocky
1st Fanatic
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
Chief Inspector Heat
Always and Everyone
Joseph
Firefox
Colonel Kontarsky
The Kenny Everett Television Show
Self
The Queen
The Informer
Slater
Mahler
Krenek
Ripping Yarns
Robber
The Devils
Legrand
Black and Blue
Schultz
Dickens of London
Robert Seymour
The Last Train
Peter and Paul
Theodotus
The Scarlet and the Black
Capt. Hirsch
Mussolini: The Untold Story
King Vittorio Emmanuele
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
Archie Burlington
Les Misérables
Police Prefect
Casanova
Le Duc
How I Won the War
2nd Replacement
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
Admiral Piett (voice)
It's Dark Outside
Hammond
Brassed Off
Greasley
The Love School
Edward Burne-Jones
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Boldt
Dear Mother... ...Love Albert
Judge Dee
John Silver's Return to Treasure Island
Ben Gunn
The Royal
Bernard Hussey
Pennies from Heaven
The Accordion Man
The Boy Friend
King in fantasy sequence (uncredited)
Lisztomania
Frederic Chopin
The Triple Echo
Provo Corporal
La Vie de Bohème
Street Sweeper
Performance
Tony Farrell
The Music Lovers
Modeste Tchaikovsky
Greetings
Ken
I Hired a Contract Killer
The Killer
I Remember Nelson
ice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson
The Whistle Blower
Bill Pickett
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story
Adolf Eichmann
The Plot to Kill Hitler
Wilhelm Keitel
Like Father Like Son
Rawsthorne
Solomon & Sheba
Nathan
Prisoner of Honor
Capt. Dreyfus
The Rainbow
Mr. Brunt
Flame
Tony Devlin
The Blood Beast Terror
James
Shadow Run
Larcombe
Giro City
Martin
The Last Island
Nick
A Summer Story
Jim
Kremlin Farewell
Sergej
The Jokers
De Winter
Measure for Measure
Duke Vincentio
Scar Tissue
Weaver
A Master of the Marionettes
Inspector Tennyson
Unnatural Causes
Inspector Gerry Reckless
Seventy Deadly Pills
Covent Garden porter
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
John Ireland
The Danedyke Mystery
The Major
Hold Back the Night
Uncle Bob
Return to Waterloo
The Traveller
The Testing of Eric Olthwaite
Robber
Who Pays?
Corbett
Come the Revolution
Bruce Tetley
Dance of the Seven Veils
One Bummer News Day
Frank Benyon
I Remember Nelson
Vice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson
Robert Rylands' Last Journey
Archdale
Three Clear Sundays
Nick
Cause of Death
Dr. Emil Justin
Three Days in Szczecin
Edmund Bałuka