Kenneth Colley

Kenneth Colley

Birthday: 1937-12-07

Deathday: 2025-06-30

Place of birth: Manchester, England, UK

Also known as: Kenneth Cooley, Ken Colley

imdb_id: nm0171829

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.

Played in movies:

The Empire Strikes Back

Score: 8.4

Dance of the Seven Veils

Score: 8.0

Return of the Jedi

Score: 7.9

Life of Brian

Score: 7.8

La Vie de Bohème

Score: 7.5

The Devils

Score: 7.5

Flame

Score: 7.2

Les Misérables

Score: 7.1

The Testing of Eric Olthwaite

Score: 7.0

Brassed Off

Score: 7.0

The Scarlet and the Black

Score: 7.0

I Hired a Contract Killer

Score: 6.9

Performance

Score: 6.8

Like Father Like Son

Score: 6.7

Return to Waterloo

Score: 6.7

Mahler

Score: 6.7

The Music Lovers

Score: 6.6

The Boy Friend

Score: 6.5

Unnatural Causes

Score: 6.5

Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out

Score: 6.4

Solomon & Sheba

Score: 6.2

Prisoner of Honor

Score: 6.2

Juggernaut

Score: 6.2

A Summer Story

Score: 6.2

Hitler: The Last Ten Days

Score: 6.1

Jabberwocky

Score: 6.1

Robert Rylands' Last Journey

Score: 6.1

The Plot to Kill Hitler

Score: 6.0

Firefox

Score: 6.0

The Triple Echo

Score: 6.0

The Secret Life of Arnold Bax

Score: 6.0

Measure for Measure

Score: 6.0

Seventy Deadly Pills

Score: 6.0

Lisztomania

Score: 6.0

The Jokers

Score: 6.0

The Whistle Blower

Score: 5.8

The Rainbow

Score: 5.7

The Last Island

Score: 5.7

How I Won the War

Score: 5.5

Scar Tissue

Score: 5.5

The Blood Beast Terror

Score: 5.5

Hold Back the Night

Score: 5.2

Three Clear Sundays

Score: 5.0

Giro City

Score: 5.0

Casanova

Score: 4.2

Shadow Run

Score: 3.8

Greetings

Score: 1.0

Dan Hawk Psychic Detective

Score: 0.0

Come the Revolution

Score: 0.0

One Bummer News Day

Score: 0.0

I Remember Nelson

Score: 0.0

The Danedyke Mystery

Score: 0.0

Who Pays?

Score: 0.0

Kremlin Farewell

Score: 0.0

A Master of the Marionettes

Score: 0.0

Played in tv shows:

The Expert

Score: 10.0

The Expert

Score: 10.0

Always and Everyone

Score: 9.0

Peaky Blinders

Score: 8.5

Agatha Christie's Poirot

Score: 8.2

Foyle's War

Score: 7.9

The Institute

Score: 7.8

Inspector Morse

Score: 7.8

The Sweeney

Score: 7.8

The Avengers

Score: 7.7

Misfits

Score: 7.6

The Royal

Score: 7.6

Pennies from Heaven

Score: 7.6

Ripping Yarns

Score: 7.5

Midsomer Murders

Score: 7.5

Vera

Score: 7.4

New Tricks

Score: 7.4

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

Score: 7.4

The Last Train

Score: 7.3

Omnibus

Score: 7.2

Heartbeat

Score: 7.1

Peter and Paul

Score: 7.0

The Queen

Score: 7.0

The Kenny Everett Television Show

Score: 7.0

John Silver's Return to Treasure Island

Score: 7.0

Fall of Eagles

Score: 6.9

The Mrs Bradley Mysteries

Score: 6.9

Minder

Score: 6.8

Relic Hunter

Score: 6.7

Dickens of London

Score: 6.5

Target

Score: 6.3

Play for Today

Score: 6.3

Play for Today

Score: 6.3

Casualty

Score: 6.1

Casualty

Score: 6.1

Casualty

Score: 6.1

Peak Practice

Score: 6.1

Black and Blue

Score: 6.0

Wallenberg: A Hero's Story

Score: 6.0

Wycliffe

Score: 6.0

The Protectors

Score: 5.6

Between the Lines

Score: 5.6

Dear Mother... ...Love Albert

Score: 5.5

Crown Court

Score: 5.4

Mussolini: The Untold Story

Score: 5.3

BBC Play of the Month

Score: 5.0

A for Andromeda

Score: 5.0

Judge Dee

Score: 5.0

Hazell

Score: 4.8

The Wednesday Play

Score: 4.5

I Remember Nelson

Score: 4.0

Thirty-Minute Theatre

Score: 3.8

No Hiding Place

Score: 3.7

It's Dark Outside

Score: 0.0

The Love School

Score: 0.0

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers

Score: 0.0