Biography
Kenneth Colley (* 7 December 1937 in Manchester)
One of his early
appearances on British television was as Noah Riley in the 1970s police
drama The Sweeney, in an episode entitled Trap.[2] He played Jesus 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 worked extensively with British director Ken Russell from the
early 1970s to the early 1990s as part of a repertory of actors who
appeared across Russell's television and film work. He played the role
of Modest Tchaikovsky in the film The Music Lovers (1971). He went on
to play the role of LeGrand in Russell's The Devils (also 1971); he
played the journalist Krenek in the biopic Mahler (1974); the composer
Frédéric Chopin in Lisztomania (1975); Mr Brunt in
Russell's adaptation of The Rainbow (1989) by D. H. Lawrence. His last
role for Russell was as Captain Dreyfus in the film Prisoner of Honor
(1991), which dealt with the Dreyfus affair.
For his work in the Star Wars franchise, Colley's role as Admiral Piett
is noted for differing from the other ill-fated Imperial officers who
appeared alongside him in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), as Colley was
the only actor to play an Imperial officer in a second Star Wars film,
reprising his role in Return of the Jedi (1983). Colley reprised his
role as Piett in the Cartoon Network animated special Lego Star Wars:
The Empire Strikes Out in September 2012. Coincidentally, Colley and
David Prowse had a part in the fantasy film Jabberwocky (1977).
Colley also played a notable role in the 1982 Clint Eastwood film
Firefox, where he played a Soviet colonel tasked with the protection of
the Firefox and its secrets. He went on to play
SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel in the Second World War drama War
and Remembrance.
Colley has directed one film to date, Greetings (2007), a horror film starring Kirsty Cox, Henry Dunn and Ben Shockley.
In 2017, Colley recorded a series of short narrations for inclusion on
Pop Wasteland, an album by Folkestone band Phenomenal Cat.
Colley lives in Hythe, Kent.
Filmography
