James Bond Actors You May Not Have Known Passed Away
James Bond Actors You May Not Have Known Passed Away MGM/United Artists
By Tim Lammers/May 19, 2021 7:17 pm EDT
Without question, Eon Productions James Bond film series has been one of the most successful franchises in cinematic history, with 25 films produced to date, including the upcoming, long-delayed No Time to Die. The series kicked off, of course, with Dr. No in 1962, with Sean Connery playing the dashing British secret agent who goes by the code name 007. Over the years the Bond mantle has been taken up by five other actors: George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
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.
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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,
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