Kenneth Colley (born 7 December 1937) is 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 in The Life of Brian, having also appeared in the earlier Monty 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 in 1979.
Colley also held an important role in the Clint Eastwood movie Firefox, where he played a Soviet Colonel tasked with the protection of the Firefox and its secrets.
Colley went on to play 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 1978 BBC television drama, Pennies from Heaven. He has also recently starred in BBC's Holby Blue as a drunk and violent father, grand father and father in law.
Colley currently resides in Hythe, Kent.
Filmography
The Music Lovers (1970) ... Modeste Tchaikovsky
Fall of Eagles (1974) ... Father Gapon
Jabberwocky (1977)
The Life of Brian (1979) ... Jesus Christ
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) ... Admiral Piett
Firefox (1982)
Return of the Jedi (1983) ... Admiral Piett
Return to Waterloo (1985) 'The Traveller'
I Hired a Contract Killer (1990)
Brassed Off (1996)
Ken Colley also played Admiral Lord Nelson in the mini series 'I Remember Nelson' in the early eighties.
External links
Kenneth Colley at the Internet Movie Database
This article about an English film actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Colley"
Categories: 1937 births | Actors from Manchester | English film actors | Living people | English film actor stubsHidden categories: Articles lacking sources from September 2007 | All articles lacking sources
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This page was last modified on 15 July 2008, at 19:43.
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