Michael Pennington, the British actor whose illustrious career took him from Stratford-Upon-Avon to a galaxy far, far away, has died aged 82.
Pennington, who played Moff Jerjerrod in Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, died on Sunday (10 May), reports The Telegraph. No cause of death was given.
Born in Cambridge in 1942, Pennington found a passion for the stage as a member of the National Youth Theatre. Studying at Cambridge University, he appeared in 30 undergraduate plays and made his debut as Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
A frequent collaborator of Judi Dench, Pennington never went to drama school, but joined the Royal Shakespeare Company after graduating. In this same period, he married fellow actor Katharine Barker, with whom he had one son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1967.
Pennington initially spent eight years with the RSC during which he most notably played Fortinbras in a 1965 production of Hamlet. At this stage, however, his role was relatively junior, and Pennington left to move to London and work in theatre and television.
When he returned to the RSC in 1974, it was initially to play Angelo in Measure for Measure. Thus started a new era of his relationship with the company; Pennington was now a leading actor and appeared in a number of productions, the most notable of which was a 1980 version of Hamlet, where he played the titular Danish prince.
In order to play Hamlet, the four-time Olivier nominee infamously turned down the role that would have changed his career trajectory: the lead opposite Meryl Streep in the film adaptation of The French Lieutenant’s Woman. The film, written by Harold Pinter and directed by Karel Reisz, earned five Oscar nominations.
Pennington, however, said at the time that he had no regrets about choosing Hamlet. “I realised I couldn’t let go. It is one of the prizes,” he said at the time. He would star opposite Streep many decades later, as he played Michael Foot in 2011 Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady.
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In between his on and off work with the RSC, Pennington trod the boards at the National Theatre and in the West End, earning an Olivier Award nomination in the process.
In 1986, Pennington joined forces with director Michael Bogdanov to found the English Shakespeare Company. He served as joint artistic director and performed with the company, earning another Olivier nomination in the process.
In his later decades, Pennington appeared in a number of one-man shows and continued to perform in Shakespeare.
His most notable film role came in 1983, when Pennington played Death Star commander Moff Jerjerrod in Return of the Jedi, the third film in the original Star Wars trilogy.
While his theatre career was always his priority, Pennington had no problem with his association with Star Wars.
He said in a 2003 interview: “Let’s not make too much of it, but I’ve done 20 years of plays since, and people still write for autographs, saying, ‘If you ever do any more acting, please let us know.’”
Pennington’s partner, Prue Skene, died last year.
