Casting Yaphet Kotto made things better. That s how it worked. Look through Kotto s credits and try to find a bad performance. There are none. Kotto, who died in the Philippines yesterday at 81, always delivered beyond the expectations of viewers, whatever they were. He surprised the filmmakers who cast him as well. Even if the project was forgettable, Kotto was likely to be brilliant in it, bringing star power to supporting roles, and often knocking lead actors off the screen with a superior display of craft and imagination.
Advertisement
He was a pioneering actor in so-called blaxploitation films in the 70s, playing criminals, cops, and tough guys. He had panache and commanded any room he entered. In 1970 s Bone, a crime thriller/domestic drama from writer/director Larry Cohen, Kotto played a criminal who takes a white couple hostage intending to empty their bank accounts but ends up getting drawn into a Double Indemnity -like conspiracy. In Across 110th Street,
Alien, Homicide actor Yaphet Kotto dead at 81
UPI News Service, 03/16/2021
Yaphet Kotto, an actor whose credits include the films Alien and Live and Let Die as well as a long tenure on TV series Homicide: Life on the Street, has died, his agent announced. He was 81.
ADVERTISEMENT Kotto, whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1990s, died Sunday in the Philippines, where he lived with his wife, agent Ryan Goldhar said. The cause of death was not released.
The actor s long list of credits includes the films Alien, The Running Man, Midnight Run, The Thomas Crown Affair and horror sequel Freddy s Dead: The Final Nightmare. In 1973, he portrayed iconic James Bond villain Mr. Big in Live and Let Die.
‘Alien’ actor Yaphet Kotto, who played James Bond villain, dead at 81
10/12/97 Los Angeles, CA. Yaphet Kotto and his wife at the BACS (Black American Cinema Society Awards) Awards. (Albert Ortega/Getty Images/TNS)
Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, (TNS)
Yaphet Kotto, whose decades-long acting career included a memorable turn as a James Bond villain and prominent roles alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert De Niro, has died.
He was 81.
The “Alien” actor’s death was announced Monday by his wife, who remembered him as a “legend.”
“You played a villain on some of your movies but for me you’re a real hero and to a lot of people also,” Sinahon Thessa wrote on Facebook. “A good man, a good father, a good husband and a decent human being, very rare to find.”
Yaphet Kotto, Magnetic Actor With A Long And Varied Career, Dies At 81 wnmufm.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wnmufm.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Written by Basinradio on March 17, 2021
Yaphet Kotto, best known for playing villain Kananga/Mr. Big in the 1973 James Bond movie
The actor’s wife, Tessie Sinahon, announced his death on Facebook, and Kotto’s agent confirmed the news to
Variety. His cause of death was not immediately available.
“You played a villain on some of your movies, but for me you’re a real hero and to a lot of people also,” Sinahon wrote. “A good man, a good father, a good husband and a decent human being, very rare to find.”
Kotto was reportedly born in New York City on Nov. 15, 1939, and started studying acting at age 16 at the Actors Mobile Theater Studio. He made his theatrical debut in a performance of