Kenneth Colley mini-bio: Kenneth Colley (born 7 December 1937) is a British actor. A long-time character actor, he came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Colley was born in Manchester. 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 also held an important role in the Clint Eastwood movie Firefox, where he played a Soviet Colonel tasked with the protection of the Firefox and its secrets.
In one of his rare on-screen main roles, he played Vice-Adm. Horatio Viscount Nelson in the 1982 ATV production "I Remember Nelson."
Colley went on to play 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.
Colley currently resides in Hythe, Kent.
