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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Photos
Movies (58)
Dan Hawk Psychic Detective
2025 · Thaddeus Moncrief
Scar Tissue
2013 · Weaver
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
2012 · Admiral Piett (voice)
Greetings
2007 · Ken, Producer, Director, Writer
Like Father Like Son
2005 · Rawsthorne
Hold Back the Night
1999 · Uncle Bob
Shadow Run
1998 · Larcombe
Brassed Off
1996 · Greasley
Robert Rylands' Last Journey
1996 · Archdale
Solomon & Sheba
1995 · Nathan
Unnatural Causes
1993 · Inspector Gerry Reckless
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
1992 · John Ireland
La Vie de Bohème
1992 · Street Sweeper
Prisoner of Honor
1991 · Capt. Dreyfus
The Last Island
1990 · Nick
I Hired a Contract Killer
1990 · The Killer
Kremlin Farewell
1990 · Sergej
The Plot to Kill Hitler
1990 · Wilhelm Keitel
The Rainbow
1989 · Mr. Brunt
A Master of the Marionettes
1989 · Inspector Tennyson
A Summer Story
1988 · Jim
Casanova
1987 · Le Duc
The Whistle Blower
1986 · Bill Pickett
Return to Waterloo
1984 · The Traveller
Return of the Jedi
1983 · Admiral Piett
The Scarlet and the Black
1983 · Capt. Hirsch
Giro City
1982 · Martin
Firefox
1982 · Colonel Kontarsky
The Empire Strikes Back
1980 · Admiral Piett
Life of Brian
1979 · Jesus
The Danedyke Mystery
1979 · The Major
Measure for Measure
1979 · Duke Vincentio
Les Misérables
1978 · Police Prefect
One Bummer News Day
1978 · Frank Benyon
Come the Revolution
1977 · Bruce Tetley
The Testing of Eric Olthwaite
1977 · Robber
Jabberwocky
1977 · 1st Fanatic
Three Days in Szczecin
1976 · Edmund Bałuka
The Chester Mystery Plays
1976
Lisztomania
1975 · Frederic Chopin
Flame
1975 · Tony Devlin
Juggernaut
1974 · Detective Brown
Mahler
1974 · Krenek
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
1973 · Boldt
The Triple Echo
1972 · Provo Corporal
The Boy Friend
1971 · King in fantasy sequence (uncredited)
The Devils
1971 · Legrand
The Music Lovers
1971 · Modeste Tchaikovsky
Performance.
1970 · Tony Farrell
Dance of the Seven Veils
1970
Cause of Death
1968 · Dr. Emil Justin
The Blood Beast Terror
1968 · James
Who Pays?
1968 · Corbett
How I Won the War
1967 · 2nd Replacement
The Jokers
1967 · De Winter
Macbeth
1966 · Macbeth's servant
Three Clear Sundays
1965 · Nick
Seventy Deadly Pills
1963 · Covent Garden porter
TV shows (63)
The Institute
2025 · Gate Guard #5
Peaky Blinders
2013 · Vicente Changretta
Vera
2011 · Ronald Devreux
The Queen
2009
Misfits
2009 · Old Rudy
New Tricks
2004
The Royal
2003 · Bernard Hussey
Foyle's War
2002 · Brian Jones
Relic Hunter
1999 · Professor Lamenza
Always and Everyone
1999 · Joseph
The Last Train
1999
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
1998 · Archie Burlington
Midsomer Murders
1997 · Lloyd Kirby
Wycliffe
1994 · Sam Peploe
Moving Story
1994 · Ken Uttley
Peak Practice
1993 · Stan Jordan
Between the Lines
1992 · Chief Supt. Tattersall
Heartbeat
1992 · Clive Harris
Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989 · Mathew Davenheim
War and Remembrance
1988 · Paul Blobel
The Play on One
1988 · DI Tennyson
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
1988 · Chief Inspector Heat
When Reason Sleeps
1987 · James Bentik
Inspector Morse
1987 · DCI Patrick Dawson
Casualty
1986 · Paddy, Clifford Watkins, Arthur Cobb
John Silver's Return to Treasure Island
1986 · Ben Gunn
Mussolini: The Untold Story
1985 · King Vittorio Emmanuele
Function Room
1985
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story
1985 · Adolf Eichmann
Screen Two
1985 · Sergej
I Remember Nelson
1982 · ice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1982 · Self
Peter and Paul
1981 · Theodotus
Minder
1979 · Ron
The BBC Television Shakespeare
1978 · Duke Vincentio
Pennies from Heaven
1978 · The Accordion Man
Target
1977 · Jessal
Dickens of London
1976 · Robert Seymour
Ripping Yarns
1976 · Robber
The Love School
1975 · Edward Burne-Jones
The Sweeney
1975 · Noah Riley
Churchill's People
1974 · Ancient Beau
Fall of Eagles
1974 · Father Gapon
Black and Blue
1973 · Schultz
Crown Court
1972 · Stanley Meredith
The Protectors
1972 · Devlin
New Scotland Yard
1972 · Peter Elliot
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
1971 · Farrish
Play for Today
1970 · Bruce Tetley, Frank Benyon
Dear Mother... ...Love Albert
1969
Judge Dee
1969
The Expert
1968 · Foreman, Munt
City '68
1967 · Corbett
Omnibus
1967 · Hitler
The Informer
1966 · Slater
BBC Play of the Month
1965 · Yolinichev
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965 · Paddy, Dr. Emil Justin, Adolf Hitler, Charles I
Redcap
1964 · Private Bolt
The Wednesday Play
1964 · Bethold Florenberg
It's Dark Outside
1964 · Hammond
The Avengers
1961
No Hiding Place
1959
Armchair Theatre
1956 · Jimmy