Kenneth Colley

Kenneth Colley

  • Birthday: 1937-12-07
  • Place of birth: Manchester, England, UK
  • Also know as: Kenneth Cooley

Biography

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 (very briefly indeed) 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 HolbyBlue as a drunk and violent father, grandfather and father-in-law. He currently lives at Hythe in Kent. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kenneth Colley, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

Return to Waterloo

1984

As The Traveller

I Remember Nelson

1982

As Vice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson

Measure for Measure

1979

As Duke Vincentio

Kremlin Farewell

1990

As Sergej

A Master of the Marionettes

1989

As Inspector Tennyson

I Hired a Contract Killer

1990

As The Killer

Unnatural Causes

1993

As Inspector Gerry Reckless

Wallenberg: A Hero's Story

1985

As Adolph Eichmann

Giro City

1982

As Martin

Solomon & Sheba

1995

As Nathan

A Summer Story

1988

As Jim

The Plot to Kill Hitler

1990

As Wilhelm Keitel

Shadow Run

1998

As Larcombe

The Last Island

1990

As Nick

The Secret Life of Arnold Bax

1992

As John Ireland

The Scarlet and the Black

1983

As Capt. Hirsch

The Music Lovers

1971

As Modeste Tchaikovsky

One Bummer News Day

1978

As Frank Benyon

Firefox

1982

As Colonel Kontarsky

Hold Back the Night

1999

As Uncle Bob

Scar Tissue

2013

As Weaver

Like Father Like Son

2005

As Rawsthorne

The Triple Echo

1972

As Provo Corporal

Seventy Deadly Pills

1963

As Covent Garden porter

Greetings

2007

As Ken

Prisoner of Honor

1991

As Capt. Dreyfus

Flame

1975

As Tony Devlin

The Whistle Blower

1986

As Bill Pickett

Life of Brian

1979

As Jesus

Casanova

1987

As Le Duc

Come the Revolution

1977

As Bruce Tetley

The Rainbow

1989

As Mr. Brunt

LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out

2012

As Admiral Piett (voice)

Jabberwocky

1977

As 1st Fanatic

Performance

1970

As Tony Farrell (as Ken Colley)

Mahler

1974

As Krenek

Brassed Off

1996

As Greasley

The Devils

1971

As Legrand

Return of the Jedi

1983

As Admiral Piett

Juggernaut

1974

As Detective Brown

How I Won the War

1967

As 2nd Replacement

Lisztomania

1975

As Frederic Chopin

The Empire Strikes Back

1980

As Admiral Piett

La Vie de Bohème

1992

As Street Sweeper

The Jokers

1967

As De Winter

Three Clear Sundays

1965

As Nick

Les Misérables

1978

As Police Prefect

Production

Greetings

2007

As Director

Greetings

2007

As Producer

Greetings

2007

As Writer

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