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Yaphet Kotto 1939 - 2021

Yaphet Kotto was born on November 15, 1939 at Harlem in New York, New York County, New York United States, and died at age 81 years old on March 15, 2021 in Philippines.

Yaphet Kotto

Manilla, Philipines

November 15, 1939

Harlem in New York, New York County, New York, United States

March 15, 2021

Philippines

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Yaphet Kotto Yaphet Kotto (1939 - 2021)

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Yaphet Kotto's History: 1939 - 2021

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Introduction

Movie, Broadway and Television Star.
11/15

1939

Birthday

November 15, 1939

Birthdate

Harlem in New York, New York County, New York United States

Birthplace

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Early Life & Education

New York City.
Religious Beliefs

His father from Cameroon converted to Judaism and his mother was a Catholic and he was raised by his Catholic maternal grandparents. His third wife was Filipino and most likely Catholic too. He died in the Philippines near Manilla.
Professional Career

Movie and Television Star. He was discovered by Judy Holliday who mentored him. Known for Alien (1979) Alien 8.5 Parker 1979 Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, Gloria Hendry, and Geoffrey Holder in Live and Let Die (1973) Live and Let Die 6.7 KanangaMr. Big 1973 Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin in Midnight Run (1988) Midnight Run 7.5 Alonzo Mosely 1988 Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) Homicide: Life on the Street 8.7 TV Series Lieutenant Al Giardello 1993–1999 • 122 eps Credits Expand below All credits Actor Alien: Isolation (2014) Alien: Isolation 8.6 Video Game Parker (voice) 2014 Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg and Larry the Cable Guy in Witless Protection (2008) Witless Protection 3.4 Ricardo Bodi 2008 Stiletto Dance (2001) Stiletto Dance 5.3 TV Movie Captain Rick Sands 2001 The Ride (2000) The Ride 6.6 TV Movie Carter 2000 Yaphet Kotto, Kyle Secor, Michael Michele, Andre Braugher, Reed Diamond, Clark Johnson, Jon Seda, and Callie Thorne in Homicide: The Movie (2000) Homicide: The Movie 7.7 TV Movie Al Giardello 2000 Alien: Deleted Scenes (1999) Alien: Deleted Scenes 7.8 Video Parker 1999 Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) Homicide: Life on the Street 8.7 TV Series Lieutenant Al Giardello 1993–1999 122 episodes Tony Goldwyn, Maura Tierney, Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott, Mehcad Brooks, and Odelya Halevi in Law & Order (1990) Law & Order 7.8 TV Series Lieutenant Al Giardello 1997 1 episode E.G. Marshall in The Defenders: Payback (1997) The Defenders: Payback 5.6 TV Movie Judge Williams 1997 The Great War: 1914-1918 (1996) The Great War: 1914-1918 8.3 TV Mini Series Kaphe Kamar (voice) 1996 1 episode Sandra Bullock and Denis Leary in Two If by Sea (1996) Two If by Sea 5.3 FBI Agent O'Malley 1996 LL Cool J in Out-of-Sync (1995) Out-of-Sync 4.6 Quincy 1995 Elizabeth Montgomery in Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan (1995) Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan 7.4 TV Movie Marty Talbot 1995 Brian Wimmer in Dead Badge (1995) Dead Badge 4.6 Captain Hunt 1995 The Puppet Masters (1994) The Puppet Masters 5.9 Ressler 1994
Personal Life & Family

Theater. He worked on Broadway too. And Washington, DC.
03/15

2021

Death

March 15, 2021

Death date

Heart attack

Cause of death

Philippines
Death location

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Obituary

Yaphet Kotto, Bond Villain and ‘Alien’ Star, Dies at 81 Well known for playing hardened personalities, he was also seen in movies like “Midnight Run” and the TV show “Homicide: Life on the Street.” Yaphet Kotto starred with Sigourney Weaver in the 1979 film “Alien,” in which he played a member of a spaceship crew doing battle with an extraterrestrial creature. Yaphet Kotto, a versatile actor whose many roles included the wisecracking engineer in the hit science-fiction film “Alien,” the villainous adversary in the James Bond movie “Live and Let Die” and a police lieutenant on the long-running television series “Homicide: Life on the Street,” died on Monday near Manila. He was 81. His agent, Ryan Goldhar, confirmed the death but said he did not know the cause. Mr. Kotto had lived in the Philippines for some years. Mr. Kotto worked mostly in the theater for the first decade or so of his career. His bodily size made him a dominating figure in any sort of role, though it tended to bring him parts as a heavy. “I’m always called powerful, bulky or imposing,” he told The Baltimore Sun in 1993, when “Homicide: Life on the Street” made its debut. “Or they say I fill up a room. I’m a 200-pound, 6-foot 3-inch Black guy. And I think I have this image of a monster. It’s very difficult.” Mr. Kotto was a police lieutenant on the long-running TV series “Homicide: Life on the Street.” In 1969, still largely unknown, he had the formidable task of replacing James Earl Jones on Broadway in “The Great White Hope,” Howard Sackler’s drama based on the life of the boxer Jack Johnson. Mr. Jones had won a Tony Award for his portrayal of the lead character, who in the play is named Jack Jefferson. Mr. Kotto stepped into the role as the production entered its second year, and Clive Barnes, taking a fresh look at the show in The New York Times, was impressed. “I had never even heard of the Hollywood-based Mr. Kotto,” he wrote. “But luckily someone had, for this is inspired casting, and Mr. Kotto will never be unheard-of again.” It was two decades before he returned to the stage, and again it was as something of a shadow to Mr. Jones, who had received another Tony playing Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s “Fences” in 1987. Mr. Kotto tackled the role in 1990 at Arena Stage in Washington, again drawing raves. “Setting the tone throughout is the thunderous Mr. Kotto,” Hap Erstein wrote of that production in The Washington Times, “a caged animal pacing the backyard, a bullying brute more expressive with his hands than his words. Away from the theater for many years pursuing film and TV work, he makes a scorching return to the stage.” Mr. Kotto starred with Roger Moore in the 1973 James Bond film “Live and Let Die.” It was Mr. Moore’s first film as Bond, and one of Mr. Kotto’s best-known movie roles. In between those stage appearances, two movie roles in the 1970s particularly elevated Mr. Kotto’s his profile. The first, in 1973, was in “Live and Let Die,” Roger Moore’s debut as James Bond. Mr. Kotto played his chief nemesis, a dual role in which he was both a corrupt Caribbean dictator and that character’s alter ago, a drug trafficker named Mr. Big. Then, in 1979, came “Alien,” Ridley Scott’s outer-space horror classic, in which Mr. Kotto’s character, Parker, was part of a spaceship crew doing battle with a nasty extraterrestrial creature. “The combination punch for my career of ‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘Alien’ was like wham, bam!” he told The Canadian Press in 2003, adding that those wildly different roles showcased his versatility. “I think the only other person who has a combination like that is Harrison Ford.” Yaphet Frederick Kotto was born on Nov. 15, 1939, in Harlem and grew up in the Bronx. His father, he told The Baltimore Jewish Times in 1995, was from Cameroon and jumped ship as a merchant seaman, ending up in New York; his mother, he said, was of Panamanian and West Indian descent. His father had adopted Judaism, and his mother was Roman Catholic. The couple separated when Mr. Kotto was a child, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents. Mr. Kotto said his career path was set by a fateful trip to the movies. “One day, when I was about 16, I walked into this theater showing ‘On the Waterfront’ and I saw Marlon Brando for the first time,” he told The Orange County Register of California in 1994. “I couldn’t speak. It was like somebody had punched me in the stomach. It was like someone had crashed cymbals in both ears. I was blasted out of the theater. I knew from that moment that I wanted to be an actor.” The actress Judy Holliday saw him in a stage production and became a mentor, he said, “moving me around like furniture, telling me what to eat.” He said his knowledge of Yiddish earned him his only other Broadway credit, in the 1965 production of “The Zulu and the Zayda,” a comedy about a Jewish grandfather who settles in South Africa. Mr. Kotto received an Emmy nomination for his performance as Idi Amin, the Ugandan strongman, in the 1977 television movie “Raid on Entebbe.” He appeared opposite Robert Redford in the prison movie “Brubaker” in 1980. In the 1988 action-comedy “Midnight Run,” starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, he played the F.B.I. agent Alonzo Mosely, whose stolen ID becomes fodder for a running joke. And in “The Running Man,” a dystopian 1987 thriller set in what was then the near future (2019), Mr. Kotto played a resistance fighter alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in a fascist version of America. Mr. Kotto married three times, Mr. Goldhar said. He and Thessa Sinahon, who is from the Philippines, married in 1998. Mr. Kotto was always conscious of the image projected by his roles, something that led him to reject certain ones. “Homicide,” a police series that was innovative for its time, was a career high point, running for seven seasons. But things started off badly, Mr. Kotto said. “The script was so good and the camera work was so different than what I was used to that I forgot my lines,” he told The Register. “I was really embarrassed. That had never happened to me before. “But the other actors came over to me and told me the same thing had happened to them.”

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Yaphet Kotto lived 3 years longer than the average family member when died at the age of 81.

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8 Memories, Stories & Photos about Yaphet

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Judy Holliday discovered Yaphet Kotto and mentored him.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

03/16/2021

Yaphet Kotto

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

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Yaphet Kotto's Family Tree & Friends

Yaphet Kotto's Family Tree

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Yaphet Kotto Nov 15, 1939 - Mar 15, 2021

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Other Biographies

Other Yaphet Kotto Biographies

Kotto, Yaphet (Oct 11, 1898 - Mar 1965)

Other Kotto Family Biographies

Kotto, Yaphet (Oct 11, 1898 - Mar 1965) Kotto, John (Dec 29, 1909 - Feb 24, 1996) Kotto, Victoria (Jan 1, 1909 - May 1980)

Kotto, Andrew (Dec 29, 1904 - Nov 1977) Kotto, Mary (Mar 16, 1915 - Jan 28, 2000) Kotto, Anna (Jul 26, 1879 - Oct 1965)

About the AncientFaces Community

Yaphet Kotto 1939 - 2021

Yaphet Kotto's History: 1939 - 2021

Introduction

Birthday

Early Life & Education

Religious Beliefs

Professional Career

Personal Life & Family

Death

Obituary

8 Memories, Stories & Photos about Yaphet

Yaphet Kotto's Family Tree & Friends

Yaphet Kotto's Family Tree

Yaphet's Friends

Other Yaphet Kotto Biographies

Other Kotto Family Biographies