Kenneth Colley, actor behind imperial villain in original 'Star Wars' trilogy, dies at 87
Colley's agent Julian Owen confirmed the actor's death Thursday, July 3. Colley was admitted to the hospital after injuring his arm from a fall, but then quickly contracted COVID-19, which developed into pneumonia, Owen said.
"Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years," Owen shared in a statement. "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."
Colley starred as Admiral Piett in the 1980 "Star Wars" film "The Empire Strikes Back" and the sequel, 1983's "Return of the Jedi."
"Ken's participation in 'Star Wars' led him to being invited to conventions and official fan events all over the world, where he remains one of the best-loved actors from the original trilogy," Owen said in the statement. "Ken loved his garden, art collecting and had a passion for fast cars."
In a memorable scene from "The Empire Strikes Back," Darth Vader tells Piett he is now in command after Vader chokes another imperial to death. Piett goes on to share several more scenes with Vader throughout the film, keeping him up to date about the Empire's pursuit of the Millennium Falcon and telling Vader that he is being summoned by Emperor Palpatine. Piett later dies in an explosion during "Return of the Jedi."
During an appearance at the Star Wars Celebration fan convention in 2016, Colley recalled that Piett wasn't originally going to be in "Return of the Jedi," but George Lucas decided to bring him back to due positive fan reaction to the character.
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Speaking in an interview on the official "Star Wars" YouTube channel, Colley said that viewers latched onto Piett because, despite being a villain, he's just "a man doing his job, and all the people out there doing their jobs understand that."
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The actor also quipped, "Somebody once said to me, 'Ken, I saw you with Darth Vader in the scene, and when you were frightened of Vader, it was so good.' I said, 'I wasn't frightened of Vader. I was frightened of the dialogue!' But it works in the movies."
Outside of "Star Wars," Colley portrayed Jesus in "Monty Python's Life of Brian" and appeared in movies like Clint Eastwood's "Firefox" and TV shows like "The Avengers" and "Peaky Blinders."
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