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LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 27: Michael Pennington during the unveiling of a new plaque commemorating her friend and fellow actor Sir John Gielgud on Cowley Street in Westminster on April 27, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by John Phillips\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Michael Pennington, a screen and stage actor whose roles included Death Star Commander Moff Jerjerrod in Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, has died.<\/p>\n
Pennington died Sunday, according to The Telegraph<\/a> in the U.K. He was 82. His cause of death was not given.<\/p>\n Born Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington on June 7, 1943, in Cambridge, England, Pennington\u2019s screen career kicked off in 1965 in a supporting role in the BBC miniseries The War of the Roses. A year before, he joined England\u2019s Royal Shakespeare Company as a bit player, according to The Telegraph.<\/p>\n ForbesJonathan Tiersten, \u2018Sleepaway Camp\u2019 Star, Dies At 60By Tim Lammers<\/a><\/p>\n In 1983\u2019s Return of the Jedi<\/a>, Pennington\u2019s Moff Jerjerrod is confronted by Darth Vader (David Prowse\/voice of James Earl Jones) with concerns from Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) over the lagging construction of Death Star II. At the end of the scene, a visibly rattled Moff Jerjerrod assures Darth Vader that his team will double their efforts in completing the new version of the planet-killing weapon, to which the Sith lord menacingly replies, \u201cI hope so, commander, for your sake. The emperor is not as forgiving as I am.\u201d<\/p>\n Pennington, who was also a longtime member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, compiled more than 70 screen roles during his career. In addition to Return of the Jedi, Pennington starred opposite Meryl Streep\u2019s U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 2011 biopic The Iron Lady, a role that earned Streep<\/a> her third overall Oscar and second statuette for Best Actress.<\/p>\n Michael Pennington Was Okay With His \u2018Star Wars\u2019 Association<\/p>\n While Michael Pennington appeared in well over 100 roles on stage and screen throughout his career, the one appearance that followed him throughout was his turn as Moff Jerjerrod in Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.<\/p>\n According to The Telegraph, Pennington once told an interviewer of his role in the beloved Star Wars classic, \u201cLet\u2019s not make too much of it, but I\u2019ve done 20 years of plays since, and people still write for autographs, saying, \u2018If you ever do any more acting, please let us know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Among Pennington\u2019s Shakespearean<\/a> stage credits were the classics Hamlet, Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, Love\u2019s Labour\u2019s Lost, Coriolanus, The Winter\u2019s Tale, Macbeth and King Lear. <\/p>\n ForbesDavid Kendall, \u2018Boy Meets World\u2019 And \u2018Growing Pains\u2019 Producer, Dies At 68By Tim Lammers<\/a><\/p>\n Apart from his Shakespeare work, Pennington starred in several other stage productions, including The Madness of George III and Anton Chekhov, a one-man play where he starred in the title role. In addition to his stage work, Pennington authored nearly a dozen books, largely dedicated to the acting craft.<\/p>\n On screen, Pennington largely appeared in British film and television productions, although some of the movies and shows made their way across the pond to the U.S. As such, Pennington appeared in guest roles in the crime drama Waking the Dead, which aired on BBC America and the historical drama The Tudors, which aired on Showtime.<\/p>\n Pennington\u2019s last credited role was in 2022, when he voiced The Trust \u2014 a sentient quantum computer \u2014 in five episodes of Season 2 of executive producer and director Ridley Scott\u2019s <\/a>HBO Max sci-fi series Raised by Wolves<\/a>.<\/p>\n