The Late Great Yaphet Kotto

He played Kananga in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die (1972). He played Parker, the chief engineer of the Nostromo in Alien (1979). He was as Lieutenant Al Giardello on the classic television show Homicide: Life on the Street. Yaphet Kotto was the consummate actor. Throughout his career he played villains and heroes and everything in between. What is more, he did all of them well. He was as at home acting in a Shakespeare play as he was a genre movie. There are not many actors who can do nearly everything, but Yaphet Kotto was one of them. Sadly, he died on March 14 1921 at the age of 81.

Yaphet Kotto was born on November 15 1939 in New York City. His mother was an American nurse and United States Army officer. She was of Panamanian and West Indian descent. His father was a businessman from Cameroon who had migrated to the United States in the 1920s, as well as a descendent of Cameroonian royalty. His father was Jewish and his mother had converted to Judaism.  His mother and father divorced when he was a child, so that he was raised by his maternal grandparents in the Bronx. Young Mr. Kotto dropped out of school at age 16. It was after working various odd jobs that he decided to take up acting after seeing Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954).

He studied acting at the Actors Mobile Theatre Studio. He made his professional acting debut in Othello. He made his film debut in Nothing But a Man in 1964. He made his debut on Broadway in The Zulu and the Zayda. During the Sixties he appeared in the films The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), 5 Card Stud (1968), and The Liberation of L. B. Jones (1970). He appeared on television in the shows NBC Experiment in Television, Death Valley Days, Cowboy in Africa, Tarzan, The Big Valley, Bonanza, The High Chaparral, Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, Daniel Boone, The Name of the Game, and Gunsmoke. In 1968 he appeared on Broadway again in The Great White Hope.


In the Seventies Yaphet Kotto played two of his best known roles. He played Dr. Kananga, the villain in Live and Let Die, and Parker in Alien. He wrote, directed, and starred in The Limit (1972), in which he played a California highway patrol officer. On television he played Idi Amin in the TV movie Raid on Entebbe. He also appeared in the movies Man and Boy (1971), Bone (1972), Across 110th Street (1972), Truck Turner (1974), Report to the Commissioner (1975), Sharks' Treasure (1975), Friday Foster (1975), Drum (1976), The Monkey Hu$tle (1976), Blue Collar (1978), Brubaker (1980), and Othello (1980). He guest starred on the TV shows Night Gallery and Doctors' Hospital.

In the Eighties he appeared in the movies Fighting Back (1982), The Star Chamber (1983), Warning Sign (1985), Eye of the Tiger (1986), Prettykill (1987), Terminal Entry (1987), The Running Man (1987), Midnight Run (1988), The Jigsaw Murders (1989), A Whisper to a Scream (1989),  Ministry of Vengeance (1989), and Tripwire (1989). On television he starred on For Love and Honor. He guest starred on the TV series Fantasy Island; The A-Team; Hill Street Blues; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Murder, She Wrote; and Father Dowling Mysteries. He appeared in such TV movies as The Park is Mine, Badge of the Assassin, Harlem, Desperado, and Prime Target.

In the Nineties Mr. Kotto appeared as Lt. Al Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street. He also guest starred as Lt. Giardello on Law & Order. He guest starred on the TV shows Civil Wars, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, and Seaquest DSV. He appeared in such TV movies as Chrome Soldiers, The American Clock, The Corpse Had a Familiar Face, and Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan. He appeared in the movies Hangfire (1991), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Extreme Justice (1993), The Puppet Masters (1994), Dead Badge (1995), Out-of-Sync (1995), Two If by Sea (1996), and Almost Blue (1996).

In the Naughts Yaphet Kotto appeared the TV movie Stiletto Dance and guest starred on the TV show The Wire. He made his last appearance on screen in the movie Witless Protection (2008).

Yaphet Kotto was an incredible actor and one who was very prolific as well. What is more, he never gave a bad performance, giving impressive performances when the material itself wasn't that good. He was extraordinary as the strait-laced Lt. Pope in Across 100th Street, outshining even screen legend Anthony Quinn. As inmate Richard "Dickie" Coombes, he gave another impressive performance. Yaphet Kotto displayed his talent on television as well. He was very convincing as Idi Amin in Raid on Entebee. On Homicide: Life on the Street he gave consistently good performances as the intelligent and articulate Al "Gee" Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street. Throughout his career Yaphet Kotto played everything from Bondian villains to lawmen to medical doctors. What is more, he played all of them well.