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.
as Gate Guard #5(1 ep)
as Thaddeus Moncrief
as Weaver
as Vicente Changretta(2 eps)
as Admiral Piett (voice)
as Ronald Devreux(1 ep)
as Old Rudy(1 ep)
as Ken
as Rawsthorne
as Bernard Hussey(1 ep)
as Brian Jones(1 ep)
as Professor Lamenza(1 ep)
as Uncle Bob
as Joseph(1 ep)
as Archie Burlington(1 ep)
as Larcombe
as Lloyd Kirby(1 ep)
as Greasley
as Archdale
as Nathan
as Sam Peploe(1 ep)
as Ken Uttley(14 eps)
as Stan Jordan(1 ep)
as Inspector Gerry Reckless
as John Ireland
as Chief Supt. Tattersall(1 ep)
as Clive Harris(1 ep)
as Street Sweeper
as Capt. Dreyfus
as Nick
as The Killer
as Sergej
as Wilhelm Keitel
as Mr. Brunt
as Inspector Tennyson
as Mathew Davenheim(1 ep)
as Paul Blobel(2 eps)
as Jim
as DI Tennyson(1 ep)
as Chief Inspector Heat(1 ep)
as James Bentik(1 ep)
as Le Duc
as DCI Patrick Dawson(1 ep)
as Bill Pickett
as Paddy(1 ep)
as Clifford Watkins(1 ep)
as Arthur Cobb(1 ep)
as Ben Gunn(10 eps)
as King Vittorio Emmanuele(4 eps)
as Adolf Eichmann(2 eps)
as Sergej(1 ep)
as The Traveller
as Admiral Piett
as Capt. Hirsch
as Martin
as Colonel Kontarsky
as ice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson(4 eps)
as Self(1 ep)
as Theodotus(2 eps)
as Admiral Piett
as Ron(1 ep)
as Jesus
as The Major
as Duke Vincentio
as Police Prefect
as Frank Benyon
as Duke Vincentio(1 ep)
as The Accordion Man(6 eps)
as Bruce Tetley
as Robber
as Jessal(1 ep)
as 1st Fanatic
as Robert Seymour(1 ep)
as Edmund Bałuka
as Robber(1 ep)
as Frederic Chopin
as Tony Devlin
as Edward Burne-Jones(3 eps)
as Noah Riley(1 ep)
as Ancient Beau(1 ep)
as Detective Brown
as Krenek
as Father Gapon(1 ep)
as Schultz(1 ep)
as Boldt
as Provo Corporal
as Stanley Meredith(2 eps)
as Devlin(1 ep)
as Peter Elliot(1 ep)
as King in fantasy sequence (uncredited)
as Farrish(2 eps)
as Legrand
as Modeste Tchaikovsky
as Bruce Tetley(1 ep)
as Frank Benyon(1 ep)
as Tony Farrell
as Dr. Emil Justin
as Foreman(1 ep)
as Munt(1 ep)
as James
as Corbett
as Corbett(1 ep)
as 2nd Replacement
as Hitler(1 ep)
as De Winter
as Slater(1 ep)
as Macbeth's servant
as Yolinichev(1 ep)
as Paddy(1 ep)
as Dr. Emil Justin(1 ep)
as Adolf Hitler(1 ep)
as Charles I(1 ep)
as Nick
as Private Bolt(1 ep)
as Bethold Florenberg(1 ep)
as Hammond(1 ep)
as Covent Garden porter
as Jimmy(1 ep)