1937-12-07 Manchester, England, UK
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.
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Scar Tissue | Weaver | 2013-09-12 |
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LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out | Admiral Piett (voice) | 2012-09-26 |
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Greetings | Ken | 2007-10-23 |
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Like Father Like Son | Rawsthorne | 2005-01-24 |
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Hold Back the Night | Uncle Bob | 1999-06-10 |
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Shadow Run | Larcombe | 1998-01-01 |
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El último viaje de Robert Rylands | Archdale | 1996-10-18 |
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Brassed Off | Greasley | 1996-11-01 |
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Solomon & Sheba | Nathan | 1995-02-26 |
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Unnatural Causes | Inspector Gerry Reckless | 1993-01-02 |
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The Secret Life of Arnold Bax | John Ireland | 1992-11-22 |
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La Vie de Bohème | Street Sweeper | 1992-02-27 |
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Prisoner of Honor | Capt. Dreyfus | 1991-11-02 |
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I Hired a Contract Killer | The Killer | 1990-10-12 |
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The Last Island | Nick | 1990-11-16 |
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Kremlin Farewell | Sergej | 1990-04-01 |
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The Plot to Kill Hitler | Wilhelm Keitel | 1990-01-30 |
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The Rainbow | Mr. Brunt | 1989-05-05 |
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A Master of the Marionettes | Inspector Tennyson | 1989-04-18 |
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A Summer Story | Jim | 1988-08-11 |
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Casanova | Le Duc | 1987-03-01 |
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The Whistle Blower | Bill Pickett | 1986-11-21 |
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Return to Waterloo | The Traveller | 1984-11-01 |
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The Scarlet and the Black | Capt. Hirsch | 1983-02-02 |
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Return of the Jedi | Admiral Piett | 1983-05-25 |
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Firefox | Colonel Kontarsky | 1982-06-18 |
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I Remember Nelson | Vice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson | 1982-04-14 |
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Giro City | Martin | 1982-11-01 |
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The Empire Strikes Back | Admiral Piett | 1980-05-20 |
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Measure for Measure | Duke Vincentio | 1979-02-18 |
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The Danedyke Mystery | The Major | 1979-06-03 |
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Life of Brian | Jesus | 1979-08-17 |
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Les Misérables | Police Prefect | 1978-12-27 |
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One Bummer News Day | Frank Benyon | 1978-12-12 |
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The Testing of Eric Olthwaite | Robber | 1977-09-22 |
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Come the Revolution | Bruce Tetley | 1977-10-25 |
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Jabberwocky | 1st Fanatic | 1977-03-28 |
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The Chester Mystery Plays | 1976-04-18 | |
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Three Days in Szczecin | Edmund Bałuka | 1976-09-21 |
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Flame | Tony Devlin | 1975-02-13 |
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Lisztomania | Frederic Chopin | 1975-10-10 |
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Mahler | Krenek | 1974-04-04 |
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Juggernaut | Detective Brown | 1974-09-25 |
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Hitler: The Last Ten Days | Boldt | 1973-04-19 |
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The Triple Echo | Provo Corporal | 1972-11-16 |
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The Boy Friend | King in fantasy sequence (uncredited) | 1971-12-16 |
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The Music Lovers | Modeste Tchaikovsky | 1971-02-12 |
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The Devils | Legrand | 1971-07-16 |
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Dance of the Seven Veils | 1970-02-15 | |
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Performance | Tony Farrell | 1970-08-03 |
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Who Pays? | Corbett | 1968-01-19 |
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The Blood Beast Terror | James | 1968-02-01 |
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Cause of Death | Dr. Emil Justin | 1968-11-11 |
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The Jokers | De Winter | 1967-05-15 |
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How I Won the War | 2nd Replacement | 1967-10-18 |
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Three Clear Sundays | Nick | 1965-04-07 |
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Seventy Deadly Pills | Covent Garden porter | 1963-01-01 |
