Colley may most notably be known as Admiral Piett in the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy, but had been acting for decades prior to getting the role.
ENGLAND, UK — Kenneth Colley, the actor known for his significant part in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, passed away at 87. After a fall led to his hospitalization, he contracted COVID, which later developed into pneumonia, as reported.
Colley is perhaps best remembered for his role as Admiral Piett in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” but he had been active in the acting scene long before those films. Remarkably, he is the sole actor to portray a named Imperial officer in multiple “Star Wars” movies, according to IMDb.
Colley’s representative, Julian Owen, informed TMZ on Thursday that the actor passed away at his Ashford, England home, with friends and family by his side. USA Today reports that he had been previously hospitalized due to an arm injury from a fall, which is where he became ill.
“Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years,” Owen shared in a statement to USA Today. “Ken continually worked on stage, film and television playing a vast array of characters, from Jesus in ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’ to evil and eccentric characters in Ken Russell films, and the Duke of Vienna in Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’ for the BBC.”
He has 158 credits on IMDb, spanning across television shows and movies since the 1960s. Some characters he played include Jesus Christ in “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and Adolf Hitler’s loyal German commanding officer Wilhelm Keitel in “The Plot to Kill Hitler.”
His television credits include shows from “Peaky Blinders,” “Pennies from Heaven” to “The Sweeney.”
