![]() in “The Zulu and the Zebra” in 1965 before replacing James Earl Jones in “The Great White Hope” (1969). Kotto soon returned to the stage, co-starring with Ossie Davis and Louis Gossett, Jr. The following year, he gave a supporting turn in Michael Roemer’s pioneering independent film “Nothing But a Man” (1964), a low-budget drama about contemporary black life produced outside of the studio system. Rita ingrid dittman professional#Kotto soon began studying at the Actors’ Mobile Studio and made his professional debut as a performer at 19 in a production of “Othello.” More stage roles preceded his first feature film appearance as an uncredited extra in the Rat Pack Western comedy “4 For Texas” (1963). As a teenager, he wandered into a screening of “On the Waterfront” (1954) and became captivated by Marlon Brando’s performance. Both of Kotto’s parents were Jewish, which contributed greatly to a rough childhood spent defending both his faith and his race. 15, 1939 in New York City, Yaphet Frederick Kotto was the son of Avraham Kotto, a businessman from Cameroon, and his wife Gladys, a nurse and army officer. Throughout his long and varied career, Kotto’s performances were marked by an unerring sense of gravity, honesty and intelligence, which served him well in avoiding many of the career pitfalls suffered by African-American actors.īorn Nov. Al Giardello on the critically acclaimed “Homicide: Life on the Street” (NBC, 1993-2000). ![]() Kotto was stranded in minor-league acting features for much of the 1980s, though he rebounded in the early 1990s as the formidable Lt. Kananga in “Live and Let Die” (1973), which marked Roger Moore’s debut as James Bond and preceded a long run as a popular character actor in such major features as “Alien” (1979) and “Brubaker” (1980). His star-making turn came as the villainous Dr. He emerged from the New York stage in the early 1960s, working steadily in small but significant roles in features like “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1967) before moving up to supporting roles and leads in “Across 110th Street” (1971). ![]() Yaphet Kotto died in 2021.Ī commanding presence in features and television since the early 1970s, Yaphet Kotto played physically powerful, often intimidating African-American men in such popular films as “Live and Let Die” (1973), “Blue Collar” (1978), “Alien” (1979) and “Midnight Run” (1988). His other movies include “The Liberation of L.B. He rose to fame for his role in the first Roger Moore ‘James Bond’ “Live and Let Die” in 1973. ![]() Yaphet Kotto was born in 1937 in New York. ![]()
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