Cast
Kenneth Colley
Acting
Cast
Kenneth Colley
Known for
Acting
Born
1937-12-07
From
Manchester, England, UK
Died
2025-06-30
Also known as Kenneth Cooley, Ken 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.
★8.4
MOVIE1980
The Empire Strikes Back
as Admiral Piett
★7.9
MOVIE1983
Return of the Jedi
as Admiral Piett
★7.8
MOVIE1979
Life of Brian
as Jesus
★6.1
MOVIE1982
Firefox
as Colonel Kontarsky
★6.3
MOVIE1974
Juggernaut
as Detective Brown
★7.4
MOVIE1971
The Devils
as Legrand
MOVIE1966
Macbeth
as Macbeth's servant
★6.0
MOVIE1977
Jabberwocky
as 1st Fanatic
★7.1
MOVIE1978
Les Misérables
as Police Prefect
★7.0
MOVIE1983
The Scarlet and the Black
as Capt. Hirsch
★4.1
MOVIE1987
Casanova
as Le Duc
★6.8
MOVIE1974
Mahler
as Krenek
★6.5
MOVIE2012
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
as Admiral Piett (voice)
★7.0
MOVIE1996
Brassed Off
as Greasley
★6.2
MOVIE1990
The Plot to Kill Hitler
as Wilhelm Keitel
MOVIE1976
The Chester Mystery Plays
★6.2
MOVIE1973
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
as Boldt
★5.8
MOVIE1975
Lisztomania
as Frederic Chopin
★7.0
MOVIE1995
Solomon & Sheba
as Nathan
★6.5
MOVIE1971
The Boy Friend
as King in fantasy sequence (uncredited)
★5.6
MOVIE1967
How I Won the War
as 2nd Replacement
★6.8
MOVIE1970
Performance.
as Tony Farrell
★5.9
MOVIE1986
The Whistle Blower
as Bill Pickett
MOVIE1979
The Danedyke Mystery
as The Major
★6.5
MOVIE1971
The Music Lovers
as Modeste Tchaikovsky
★6.9
MOVIE1990
I Hired a Contract Killer
as The Killer
★5.9
MOVIE1990
The Last Island
as Nick
★7.5
MOVIE1992
La Vie de Bohème
as Street Sweeper
★1.0
MOVIE2007
Greetings
as Ken
★5.5
MOVIE1968
The Blood Beast Terror
as James
★6.1
MOVIE1988
A Summer Story
as Jim
★6.3
MOVIE1967
The Jokers
as De Winter
★5.6
MOVIE1989
The Rainbow
as Mr. Brunt
MOVIE1976
Three Days in Szczecin
as Edmund Bałuka
★4.2
MOVIE1998
Shadow Run
as Larcombe
★7.3
MOVIE1975
Flame
as Tony Devlin
★6.3
MOVIE1991
Prisoner of Honor
as Capt. Dreyfus
★6.8
MOVIE1993
Unnatural Causes
as Inspector Gerry Reckless
★5.9
MOVIE1979
Measure for Measure
as Duke Vincentio
MOVIE1982
I Remember Nelson
as Vice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson
★6.4
MOVIE2005
Like Father Like Son
as Rawsthorne
MOVIE1968
Cause of Death
as Dr. Emil Justin
★8.5
MOVIE1977
The Testing of Eric Olthwaite
as Robber
★6.3
MOVIE1996
Robert Rylands' Last Journey
as Archdale
★6.8
MOVIE1984
Return to Waterloo
as The Traveller
★8.3
MOVIE1970
Dance of the Seven Veils
★5.0
MOVIE1999
Hold Back the Night
as Uncle Bob
★5.6
MOVIE1982
Giro City
as Martin
★5.7
MOVIE1965
Three Clear Sundays
as Nick
★8.0
MOVIE1990
Kremlin Farewell
as Sergej
MOVIE1989
A Master of the Marionettes
as Inspector Tennyson
★5.8
MOVIE1972
The Triple Echo
as Provo Corporal
★7.5
MOVIE1963
Seventy Deadly Pills
as Covent Garden porter
★5.2
MOVIE2013
Scar Tissue
as Weaver
MOVIE1968
Who Pays?
as Corbett
★6.3
MOVIE1992
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
as John Ireland
★10.0
MOVIE1977
Come the Revolution
as Bruce Tetley
MOVIE1978
One Bummer News Day
as Frank Benyon
MOVIE2025
Dan Hawk Psychic Detective
as Thaddeus Moncrief