Michael Pennington obit

Michael Pennington Dies: ‘Star Wars’ Actor Was 82

 He was not on the list.

Michael Pennington, the theater actor who played Moff Jerjerrod in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, has died aged 82.

His passing was confirmed by British newspaper The Telegraph. The cause of death was not revealed.

Pennington is a celebrated theater actor with numerous credits during a career that lasted decades. However, he is best known for his turn as bureaucratic military officer Moff Jerjerrod in the final Star Wars movie of the original trilogy.

His memorable scene from the pic saw Jerjerrof being castigated by Darth Vader for the slow construction of the second Death Star.

Pennington’s other screen credits include a 1969 version of Hamlet from Tony Richardson and playing former Labour leader Michael Foot opposite Meryl Streep in 2011 pic The Iron Lady.

More recently, he had roles in the likes of Raised By Wolves, Endeavour, Father Brown and Silent Witness. Further back, the starred in 1980s telemovie The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

However, Pennington’s main love was theater, with credits for the likes of Hamlet and The Henrys. In 1989, he starred in The Wars of the Roses, a TV version of Shakespeare plays.

Pennington’s career treading the boards began with roles in Royal Shakespeare Company before he went on to co-found the English Shakespeare Company.

elected stage credits

Richard II (Earl of Salisbury), National Youth Theatre, Apollo Theatre, London, 9–19 August and 30 August – 2 September 1961

Henry IV, Part 2 (Earl of Warwick), National Youth Theatre, Apollo Theatre, London, 22–29 August 1961

Hamlet (title role), ADC Theatre, Cambridge, February 1964

Love's Labour's Lost (Dumaine and understudying Berowne), Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1965

Hamlet (Fortinbras), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon and Aldwych Theatre, London, 1965

The Judge by John Mortimer, Theatre Royal, Brighton, and Cambridge Theatre, London, 1967

Hamlet (Laertes), Round House, London, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York, and Huntington Hartford Theatre, Los Angeles, 1969

Three Sisters (Andrei), Cambridge Arts Theatre, 1971

Trelawny of the Wells (Ferdinand Gadd), Cambridge Arts Theatre, 1971

Savages by Christopher Hampton (Crawshaw), Royal Court Theatre and Comedy Theatre, London, 1973

Measure for Measure (Angelo), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974

The Tempest (Ferdinand), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974

Afore Night Come (Johnny Hobnails), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974

Romeo and Juliet (Mercutio), RSC, Straford-upon-Avon, 1976, and Aldwych Theatre, London, 1977

Troilus and Cressida (Hector), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1976, and Aldwych Theatre, London, 1977

King Lear (Edgar), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1976, and Aldwych Theatre London, 1977

Destiny by David Edgar (Major Rolfe), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1976, and Aldwych Theatre, London, 1977

The Way of the World (Mirabell), RSC, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1978

Measure for Measure (the Duke), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1978, and Aldwych Theatre, London, 1979

Love's Labour's Lost (Berowne), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1978, and Aldwych Theatre, London,

Hippolytus (title role), RSC, Stratford-Upon-Avon, 1978, and The Warehouse, London, 1979

The White Guard (Shervinsky), RSC, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1979

The Shadow of a Gunman (Donal Davoren), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1980, and The Warehouse, London, 1981

Hamlet (title role), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1980, Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 1981, and Aldwych Theatre, London, 1981

Crime and Punishment (Raskolnikov), directed by Yuri Lyubimov, Lyric Hammersmith, London, 1983

Strider, The Story of a Horse by Mark Rozovsky based on Kholstomer by Leo Tolstoy (title role), Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1984

Venice Preserv'd (Jaffier), Lyttelton at the Royal National Theatre, London, 1984

Anton Chekhov, his one-man-play about Anton Chekhov (Anton Chekhov), Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1984

Henry IV Parts One and Two, (Prince Hal), English Shakespeare Company, 1986–1989

Henry V (title role), English Shakespeare Company, 1986–1989

Richard II (title role), English Shakespeare Company, 1987–1989

The Winter's Tale (Leontes), English Shakespeare Company, 1990–1991

Coriolanus (title role), English Shakespeare Company, 1990–1991

Macbeth (title role), English Shakespeare Company, 1991–1992

The Gift of the Gorgon by Peter Shaffer (Edward Damson), West End, 1992

The Entertainer (Archie Rice), Hampstead Theatre, 1996

Waste (Henry Trebell), directed by Peter Hall, Old Vic, London, 1997

The Seagull (Trigorin), directed by Peter Hall, Old Vic, London, 1997

The Provoked Wife (Sir John Brute), directed by Lindsay Posner, Old Vic, London, 1997

The Misanthrope (title role), directed by Peter Hall, Piccadilly Theatre, London, 1998

Filumena (Domenico), directed by Peter Hall, Piccadilly Theatre, London, 1998

Gross Indecency (Oscar Wilde), directed by Moises Kaufman, Gielgud Theatre, London, 1999

Timon of Athens (title role), directed by Gregory Doran, RSC, Stratford and London, 1999–2000

John Gabriel Borkman (title role), English Touring Theatre, 2003

The Madness of George III (title role) West Yorkshire Playhouse and Birmingham Rep, 2003

The Seagull (Dr Dorn), directed by Peter Stein, Edinburgh Festival, 2003

Sweet William (One man show about Shakespeare) London and international touring, 2007 on

Collaboration by Ronald Harwood (Richard Strauss), Duchess Theatre, London, 2009

"Taking Sides" by Ronald Harwood (Major Steve Arnold), Duchess Theatre, London, 2009

The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen, (title role), Chichester Festival Theatre, 2010

Love Is My Sin directed by Peter Brook, international tour and Broadway, 2010

The Syndicate (Dr Fabio) by Eduardo di Filippo, adapted by Mike Poulton, directed by Sean Mathias, Chichester Festival Theatre, 2011

Judgement Day by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Mike Poulton, directed by James Dacre, The Print Room, 2011

Antony and Cleopatra (Antony), directed by Janet Suzman, Chichester Festival Theatre, 2012

King Lear (title role), directed by Arin Arbus, Theatre for a New Audience at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 2013

King Lear (title role), directed by Michael Webster, national tour, 2016

 

 

Filmography

Film

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1969    Hamlet Laertes With Nicol Williamson in the title role

1983    Return of the Jedi        Moff Jerjerrod

1997    The Empire Strikes Back        Moff Jerjerrod Archive footage; Special Edition re-release

2005    Fragile Marcus           

2011    The Iron Lady Michael Foot   With Meryl Streep in the title role

Television

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1965    The Wars of the Roses                       

1966    Theatre 625     Wulfnoth Godwinson "Conquest" TV play

1967    Sat'day While Sunday Adrian 2 episodes

1968    Middlemarch   Will Ladislaw  7 episodes

1970    Mad Jack

1971    Public Eye       John Sheldon   1 episode, "Well; There Was This Girl, You See"

1972    An Affair of Honour   Martin  TV film: Thirty-Minute Theatre

1972    Callan  Lafarge            1 episode, "The Contract"

1977    The Witches of Pendle            Minister           TV film

1978    Danton's Death            Saint-Just         TV film

1982    Cymbeline       Posthumus       BBC Television Shakespeare

1982    The White Guard        Alexei Turbin  TV film

1984    Waving to a Train        Richard            TV film

Freud   Carl Jung         2 episodes

1986    The Theban Plays by Sophocles         Oedipus Rex   Theban Plays: Oedipus Rex

1987    The Return of Sherlock Holmes         Sherlock Holmes         TV film

1989    Summer's Lease          Hugh Pargeter 4 episodes

1994    Degas and Pissarro Fall Out   Degas  Short

2003    State of Play    Richard Siegler           1 episode

The Bill           Judge Howard Sinclair            6 episodes

2008    The Tudors      Abbot  1 episode, "Matters of State"

2016    Father Brown  Bishop Reynard          Episode 4.5 "The Daughter of Autolycus"

2022    Raised by Wolves        The Trust         5 episodes (voice role)

Radio

Year     Title     Role     Producer          Station Notes

1982    Fahrenheit 451            Montag                        BBC Radio 4   Gregory Evans's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel

1994    Parrots and Owls         John Ruskin    Jeremy Howe  BBC Radio 3   Play by John Purser