Star Wars actor Kenneth Colley, 87, recently died on June 30, 2025. The news was confirmed by the BBC on Thursday, July 3. His agent, Julian Owen, also revealed more details while speaking to the outlet, saying that Colley was surrounded by his close friends.
Colley was well-known for playing lead roles on various TV shows and was featured in an episode of Peaky Blinders as Vicente Changretta. Notably, the Inspector Morse star’s arm was injured after a fall, following which he was diagnosed with pneumonia and COVID-19, leading to his death, as revealed by Owen.
Apart from this, Julian recalled Kenneth Colley’s contributions over the years by describing him as one of the best character actors.
“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,” Owen added.
Back in 2008, the Moving Story star appeared for an interview with Fantha Tracks, saying that his acting journey started on stage. He said that he served in various positions, including assistant, scene pacer, and carpenter. Kenneth Colley also opened up on how his approach to acting is different compared to others and said,
“I’ve taught at drama school, and what drama school does is it gives you a basic grounding across all the things you might have to face, including music and classical work, poetry and so on. So if it’s a good school it’s a good idea, you know there are some lousy schools out there. And your real training begins when you step into the ring, when you’ve left drama school anyway.”
Kenneth Colley also accumulated a huge fan base with his performances in films like Mahler, The Triple Echo, The Blood Beast Terror, Return of the Jedi, Brassed Off, and more.
Kenneth Colley in Peaky Blinders: Character and other details explained
The Manchester, England native appeared in two episodes of Peaky Blinders around nine years ago. Kenneth Colley’s character, Vicente Changretta, appeared in Season 3 of the period crime drama and was the head of the Changretta Crime Family.
Vicente's sons, Luca and Angel, were involved when their restaurant was burned down. Vicente approached Arthur and John for answers, but got angry when John threatened his son. Later, John even hit Angel. Wanting revenge, Vicente hired someone who later shot at Grace Shelby during the Charity Foundation Dinner.
Vicente is later killed by the Peaky Blinders, and although his wife was ordered to be assassinated, the Blinder brothers decide not to do it since Audrey Changretta was the former school teacher of Arthur and John.
Thomas originally intended to make Vicente suffer while dying as the former planned to cut Vicente’s body parts. However, Vicente is shot dead by Arthur, following which Vicente’s son Luca declares war against the Peaky Blinders.
Peaky Blinders aired for six seasons between 2013 and 2022 on BBC Two and BBC One. Apart from this, Kenneth Colley was seen in shows such as Special Branch, The Danedyke Mystery, I Remember Nelson, The Bill, Between the Lines, and more.