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Stage and screen actor Michael Pennington has died at the age of 82, his representatives have confirmed.

Best known as Death Star Commander Moff Jerjerrod in Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the actor was an accomplished Shakespearean and is listed as an Honorary Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He also co-founded the English Shakespeare Company alongside theatre director Michael Bogdanov.

Actress Miriam Margolyes led tributes to Pennington, describing him as a "very fine actor, brilliant, wise, clear."

She said he was "an old friend, from Cambridge [University] days", adding: "I am sad beyond measure.…