Latest news with #KennethColley
The Guardian
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kenneth Colley obituary
Kenneth Colley, who has died aged 87, after suffering from Covid and pneumonia, was a character actor widely admired by both the press and public for his screen roles over 60 years, from the Imperial officer Admiral Piett in two of the original Star Wars films and Jesus in Monty Python's Life of Brian to historical figures such as Nelson and Napoleon, and two Adolfs, Hitler and Eichmann. He described his parts as 'mad and bad', while critics variously commented that the sad-eyed actor had 'a defeated look if ever there was one' and he could 'make your spine tingle with pleasure'. He is embedded in the minds of sci-fi film fans as Firmus Piett, a role he landed after Irvin Kershner, director of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the second in the first Star Wars trilogy, said he was 'looking for someone that would frighten Hitler'. Piett was the commander of Executor, Darth Vader's flagship super star destroyer employed in the Empire's quest for galactic control. George Lucas, the Star Wars creator and producer, had not intended to feature an Imperial officer twice in the first trilogy, but Colley made the character of Piett human – 'You can't just play a uniform,' he said – and Star Wars fans wrote in demanding to see him again. So Lucas brought him back for Return of the Jedi (1983), adding scenes to the original script. But Colley's run ended there, with Piett commanding the entire Imperial fleet at the Battle of Endor and perishing when a Rebel starfighter destroys the Executor's command bridge. He remained a firm fan favourite at Star Wars conventions over the following decades. Colley also gained cult status as Jesus delivering the Sermon on the Mount in the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian. He had previously appeared with individual members of the Monty Python team in the movie Jabberwocky and on TV in Ripping Yarns (both in 1977). He was also much admired by Ken Russell and was part of the flamboyant director's unofficial repertory company for 22 years. Colley started as Hitler in Dance of the Seven Veils (1970), a BBC musical biopic that outraged Richard Strauss's family with its sex scenes and depiction of the composer as a Nazi sympathiser. Then came film parts as Modest, Tchaikovsky's younger brother, in The Music Lovers; Legrand in The Devils, brilliantly cinematic, but controversial – and censored – for its tale of a philandering 17th-century French Catholic priest, witchcraft, nudity and sexually repressed nuns; and a bearded king for a fantasy sequence in The Boy Friend (all 1971). In further Russell musical biopics, Colley was Krenek, a journalist posing challenging questions, in Mahler (1974) and Frédéric Chopin in Lisztomania (1975). He played the dour teacher Mr Brunt in Russell's film version of The Rainbow (1989) before returning to TV as Alfred Dreyfus, a wrongly jailed 19th-century French officer, in Prisoner of Honor (1991) and the composer John Ireland in The Secret Life of Arnold Bax (1992). Colley was born in Manchester, to Jessie (nee Hughes) and Ernest Colley, a labourer. When he was 14, a teacher at South Hulme secondary modern school asked him about his career ambitions, and he said he wanted to act. On leaving school, he went through jobs as a commercial art assistant, bus conductor and warehouse operative, but his dream never faded. 'One day, I told myself that I was 23 and I had to stop wasting my time,' Colley recalled. In 1961, he headed for London and knocked on theatrical agents' doors, but failed to impress. Nevertheless, he landed his first theatre job as an assistant stage manager with Bromley repertory company, where he started acting. He also made his screen debut, as a corpse, in the BBC sci-fi series A for Andromeda (1961) in the middle of an actors' strike that meant most Equity members were not available for work. Moving on, he joined the newly formed Living Theatre company in an old school building in Leicester (1961-63), alongside actors such as Jill Gascoine. His performance as Jimmy Porter in John Osborne's anti-establishment play Look Back in Anger led one critic to write: 'Kenneth Colley burns with sardonic rage.' While television quickly recognised his talents as a character actor, with appearances in dramas such as The Avengers (1963), as well as the role of a fellow steel worker playing pranks on Dennis Tanner in Coronation Street (1964), Colley continued on stage with the company at the Unity, a London East End venue with roots in the workers' theatre movement. He played Wick there in another 'angry young man' play, Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1965), written by David Halliwell and directed by Mike Leigh. He reprised the role at that year's Dublin theatre festival and in the West End of London the following year at the Garrick, before taking small parts with the National Theatre company at the Old Vic in 1968. Later stage roles included Cleet in Cromwell (Royal Court, 1973) and Benedick on tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Much Ado About Nothing (1979). In films, he played Michael Crawford's chauffeur in The Jokers (1967) and a Soviet colonel in Firefox (1982), alongside Clint Eastwood. He first played Hitler on television in Jean Benedetti's BBC play These Men Are Dangerous (1969). His other small-screen parts included Charles I in Revolution: Cromwell (1970), the 'accordion man' in Pennies from Heaven (1978), an SS officer in the 1983 TV movie The Scarlet and the Black, starring Gregory Peck, Eichmann in Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985), and the title roles in I Remember Nelson (1982) and Napoleon's Last Battle (1990). Colley also gave a standout performance as the manipulating Duke of Vienna in the 1979 BBC Shakespeare production Measure for Measure and enjoyed a starring role as Ken Uttley, owner of a removals firm, in the comedy-drama Moving Story (1994-95). In 2016, he played the doomed mob boss Vicente Changretta in Peaky Blinders. In 1962, Colley married Mary Dunne; she died in 2018. Kenneth Colley, actor, born 7 December 1937; died 30 June 2025
UPI
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Famous birthdays for July 5: Megan Rapinoe, Shohei Ohtani
Entertainment News // 1 day ago 'Star Wars' actor Kenneth Colley dies at 87 July 3 (UPI) -- Kenneth Colley, an actor best known for his roles in the "Star Wars" films and "Monty Python's The Life of Brian," has died after contracting COVID-19 and developing pneumonia. He was 87.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kenneth Colley, Admiral Piett in a Pair of ‘Star Wars' Films, Dies at 87
Kenneth Colley, the British actor who appeared in seven features for director Ken Russell and portrayed the Darth Vader underling Admiral Piett in the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, has died. He was 87. Colley died Monday at his Ashford home in Kent, England, of complications from COVID and pneumonia, his agent Julian Owen announced. More from The Hollywood Reporter How Jamaal Fields-Green Took Charge of the Tony-Favorite 'MJ the Musical' and Made It His Own Why the John Garfield Retrospective at Karlovy Vary May Seem More Political Than Intended Paolo Sorrentino's 'La Grazia' Set to Open Venice Film Festival For Ken Russell, Colley played dramatist Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, younger brother of the famed composer, in The Music Lovers (1971), and he did six other features with the director: The Devils (1971), The Boy Friend (1971), Mahler (1974), Lisztomania (1975) — as Frédéric Chopin — The Rainbow (1989) and Prisoner of Honor (1991). In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Colley also enjoyed a fruitful association with Monty Python and its members; he worked with director Terry Gilliam in Jabberwocky (1977) and with Michael Palin and Terry Jones on a 1977 episode of the BBC's Ripping Yarns and played Jesus in Life of Brian (1979). He had a stutter that he said disappeared whenever he was onstage or in front of a camera. Colley's Firmus Piett served as first officer of the flagship Star Dreadnought Executor under Admiral Kendal Ozzel (Michael Sheard) in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), then assumed command of the ship after Ozzel's death at the hands of Vader. He wasn't expected back for Return of the Jedi (1983). 'But I got a call from my agent saying there's been a lot of fan mail about this character and George [Lucas] has decided to put him in the next one, do you want to do it?' he recalled in a 2008 interview. 'I said sure, yeah. Who wouldn't?' He returned to play Piett once more in the 2012 animated telefilm Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. Born in Manchester on Dec. 7, 1937, Colley began his professional acting career in 1961 and went to perform for London's Old Vic, The Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Also in the 1960s, he showed up on episodes of The Avengers, Coronation Street and Emergency-Ward 10 and in such films as How I Won the War (1967) and Oh! What a Lovely War (1968). Other notable roles included the Duke of Vienna in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure for the BBC in 1979; a Soviet colonel in Clint Eastwood's Firefox (1982); Adolf Eichmann in the 1985 NBC telefilm Wallenberg: A Hero's Story; a Nazi in the 1988-89 ABC miniseries War and Remembrance; the pirate Ben Gunn on the 1986 Disney Channel miniseries Return to Treasure Island; and a crime boss on the BBC's Peaky Blinders in 2016. Colley's work as Piett made him a popular figure at Star Wars conventions and events all over the world. 'If you let it, it becomes a way of life,' he said in that 2008 interview. 'I think we're now into the third generation of people, who were not born, and it keeps it alive. For me, the personal experience is a very long time ago, but this kind of secondary experience is going on all of the time. I've just signed a picture for someone just a minute ago. I think it may outlive me.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Star Wars' Actor Kenneth Colley Dies At 87
Kenneth Colley, best known for starring as Admiral Piett in the original 'Star Wars' series and 'Jesus in Monty Python's Life of Brian,' died on June 30. He was 87. The British actor died at his home in Kent, England, after contracting Covid and developing pneumonia, according to multipleoutlets. 'Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years,' Colley's agent, Julian Owen, said in a statement to People on Thursday. '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 was initially admitted to a hospital after he injured his arm after suffering a fall. He then rapidly contracted COVID that developed into a pneumonia diagnosis, according to Owen. Owen said Colley 'passed away peacefully with friends at his bedside.' Social media users on X, formerly Twitter, mourned Colley's death. Kenneth Colley, who played Admiral Piett in ESB and ROTJ and enjoyed an acting career that spanned 60 years, has sadly passed away at the age of are immortalized in a galaxy far, far away, and in the hearts of Star Wars fans everywhere. May the Force Be With You. — MaceAhWindu 🇵🇸 (@MaceAhWindu) July 3, 2025 I was sad to learn today of the passing of actor Kenneth Colley. Wonderful in his Star Wars appearances, but it's in the chilling Inspector Morse episode Second Time Around that he excels! I'm watching it tonight in tribute! (Also features a young Christopher Eccleston!) — Mestor The Magnificent (@TheMestor) July 3, 2025 RIP Kenneth he was in Star Wars, but better than that, he was JESUS in Life of Brian. — King Stephen I 👑 (@IcarFaem) July 3, 2025 Colley, who first kicked off his Hollywood career in 1961, most recently appeared in the 2024 film 'Dan Hawk Psychic Detective' and as a voice actor in the 2023 short film 'I Am Tree.' Hurry! Lego's Star Wars Advent Calendar Just Hit Its Lowest Price Yet Trump Appears To Embrace The Dark Side In The White House's 'Star Wars' Day Post 'Star Trek' Actor Kenneth Mitchell Dead At 49
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Star Wars' Actor Kenneth Colley Dies At 87
Kenneth Colley, best known for starring as Admiral Piett in the original 'Star Wars' series and 'Jesus in Monty Python's Life of Brian,' died on June 30. He was 87. The British actor died at his home in Kent, England, after contracting Covid and developing pneumonia, according to multipleoutlets. 'Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years,' Colley's agent, Julian Owen, said in a statement to People on Thursday. '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 was initially admitted to a hospital after he injured his arm after suffering a fall. He then rapidly contracted COVID that developed into a pneumonia diagnosis, according to Owen. Owen said Colley 'passed away peacefully with friends at his bedside.' Social media users on X, formerly Twitter, mourned Colley's death. Kenneth Colley, who played Admiral Piett in ESB and ROTJ and enjoyed an acting career that spanned 60 years, has sadly passed away at the age of are immortalized in a galaxy far, far away, and in the hearts of Star Wars fans everywhere. May the Force Be With You. — MaceAhWindu 🇵🇸 (@MaceAhWindu) July 3, 2025 I was sad to learn today of the passing of actor Kenneth Colley. Wonderful in his Star Wars appearances, but it's in the chilling Inspector Morse episode Second Time Around that he excels! I'm watching it tonight in tribute! (Also features a young Christopher Eccleston!) — Mestor The Magnificent (@TheMestor) July 3, 2025 RIP Kenneth he was in Star Wars, but better than that, he was JESUS in Life of Brian. — King Stephen I 👑 (@IcarFaem) July 3, 2025 Colley, who first kicked off his Hollywood career in 1961, most recently appeared in the 2024 film 'Dan Hawk Psychic Detective' and as a voice actor in the 2023 short film 'I Am Tree.' Hurry! Lego's Star Wars Advent Calendar Just Hit Its Lowest Price Yet Trump Appears To Embrace The Dark Side In The White House's 'Star Wars' Day Post 'Star Trek' Actor Kenneth Mitchell Dead At 49
