Kenneth Colley has died. Although Colley appeared in more than 150 film and television projects over a 70-year career, working with Ken Russell, Monty Python, Clint Eastwood, and many others, he will be familiar to modern audiences for one particular role: Captain—that is to say, Admiral—Piett, recipient of one of the most famous field promotions in blockbuster history in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Colley’s death, from complications from COVID-19 and pneumonia, was confirmed today by People. He was 87.
Colley came up as a stage actor in the U.K., with a background in Shakespearean theater. (Which he occasionally flexed on the screen, appearing in TV productions of Macbeth and Measure For Measure.) He began scoring small TV roles in the 1960s, appearing in shows like The Avengers, Coronation Street, and dozens more. The ’70s saw him fall in with Russell, becoming part of the director’s recurring company of actors; he’d ultimately appear in six films for the director, starting with 1971’s The Music Lovers. During this same period, he came into the orbit of the Python crew, starring with Michael Palin in an episode of his comedy anthology series Ripping Yarns, and appearing in Terry Gilliam’s early film Jabberwocky. (Gilliam would later reveal that Colley supposedly suffered from a stammer in his day-to-day life, one that evaporated as soon as he dropped into a role.) The association culminated in one of the odder castings of Colley’s career: His brief turn as (the wholly non-comedic) Jesus Christ, delivering a barely-glimpsed Sermon On The Mount in Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian.
In 1980, Colley scored the role that would make him unexpectedly famous amongst science fiction fans: Imperial officer Piett, who holds the distinction of being the only Imperial officer to appear in two of the original Star Wars trilogy films. (In later interviews, Colley noted that the character hadn’t originally been slated to appear in Return Of The Jedi, but that George Lucas had reached out to him after getting fan letters asking after the character.) Like most of the roles filled by various English acting veterans amongst the Imperial Navy upper crust, Colley is mostly there to look deeply uncomfortable in grey wool, while occasionally giving Darth Vader someone to threaten or receive exposition from. That being said, small moments throughout Empire allow Colley to flex his drily comedic muscles, whether expressing his obvious discomfort after Vader uses the Force to kill his immediate superior via a Zoom call, or his disdain for the bounty hunters suddenly swarming his pristine Star Destroyer. (He also, in his return engagement in Jedi, gets to be the guy who delivers one of those classic Star Wars meme lines, noting that the command code Han Solo is trying to con him with is “an older code, but it checks out.”)
Regardless of his sudden brush with space-faring fame, Colley spent the rest of his life continuing to work his craft, often in the same single-episode roles and small film parts he’d been performing before. In 1991, he appeared in his final Russell film, Prisoner Of Honor, where he played historical scapegoat Alfred Dreyfus; he popped up on EastEnders and Peaky Blinders; he even reprised his old Imperial role for a Lego Star Wars special produced by Cartoon Network in 2012. (He also embraced, like many of the Star Wars actors, his fan-favorite status, becoming a regular on the convention circuit.) He continued to act right on through his 80s, appearing in shorts and films until the year before his death.
