‘Star Wars’ & ‘Life Of Brian’ Actor Was 87

British actor Kenneth Colley, best known for starring as Admiral Piett in the original Star Wars series and Jesus in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, has died. He was 87. 

Colley died at his home in Kent, England, on Monday after contracting Covid and developing pneumonia, his agent Julian Owen said in a statement first reported on by the BBC. 

“Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years,” Owens said in the 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.”

The BBC reported that Colley had originally been admitted to hospital with an injured arm after a fall, but quickly contracted Covid, which developed into pneumonia.

Colley reprised the role of Admiral Piett in the 2012 animated film Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. His other credits include Clint Eastwood’s Firefox, Aki Kaurismäki’s I Hired a Contract Killer, and Ken Russell’s The Rainbow.

The statement from Colley’s agent added: “Ken’s favourite part was playing Estragon in the stage production of Beckett’s classic Waiting for Godot at the Cockpit Theatre in London in 2014.”