The Shakespearean actor was known for his roles as Moff Jergerrod in Star Wars and opposite Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady.
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British Star Wars actor and stage actor Michael Pennington has reportedly died at the age of 82.
Pennington’s representative confirmed the news to the BBC on Monday, May 11. USA TODAY has asked for confirmation.
The actor, best known for his role as Death Star commander Moff Jergerrod in 1983’s Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, has more than 70 film and television credits, including the role of British politician Michael Foot opposite Meryl Streep’s Margaret Thatcher in the 2011 biographical drama The Iron Lady.
He made his screen debut in 1965 in the BBC miniseries War of the Roses. He appeared in several roles on British television before making his film debut as Laertes in 1969’s Hamlet, directed by Oscar-winning director Tony Richardson and starring Nicol Williamson and a young Anthony Hopkins.
The celebrated Shakespearean actor would go on to co-found the English Shakespeare Company, be appointed Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and star in several productions with Dame Judi Dench. In a 2015 interview with The Independent, Pennington said she was inspired to pursue a career in theater after seeing Dench play Ophelia in a 1957 London production of Hamlet.
Pennington continued to work in British television and theater, and later landed a role in the third film of the original Star Wars trilogy, playing Moff Jagerrod, an Imperial officer overseeing the construction of the second Death Star.
Pennington continued to appear on stage as well as television until his late 70s. One of his last stage appearances was in the 2017 London production of The Tempest, and his last screen credit was as the voice of The Trust in Season 2 of HBO Max’s sci-fi Raised by Wolves.
