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Post by petrolino on Oct 8, 2017 3:15:29 GMT
Yaphet Kotto, born November 15th, 1939 in New York City, New York, is an American action icon. His mother Gladys Marie was a dedicated nurse and U.S. Army officer and his father Avraham Kotto (née Njoki Manga Bell) was a businessman from Cameroon who immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. Kotto studied acting as a teenager at the Actors Mobile Theater Studio. At the age of 19, he made his professional acting debut in 'Othello' by William Shakespeare. Kotto went on to register, for many, the greatest 'Othello' performance in modern history. Kotto boosted his promising career in acting under the bright lights of Broadway, appearing in 'The Great White Hope' among other productions. It's said his film debut had come as early as 1963 with an uncredited role in '4 For Texas' (1963). He played Lieutenant Al Giardello in the long-running television series 'Homicide : Life on the Street' which was a major source of inspiration to 'The Wire'. “Now, I’ll admit, there were things that I alone found on the set of Alien — the spaceship. That mechanism that Sigourney Weaver throws to put the Sulaco (fictional spacecraft) on automatic destruct. There were symbols there. Symbols that had nothing to do with the ship in the film and I kept finding these symbols. They were like Egyptian symbols and I started trying to decipher them, which I was able to do.”
- Yaphet Kotto, Mysterious Universe
1960s :
1963 4 For Texas (Robert Aldrich) 1964 Nothing But A Man (Michael Roemer) - Jocko 1968 The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison) - Carl 1968 5 Card Stud Little George (Henry Hathaway) - Mama's bartender 1970s :1970 The Liberation Of L.B. Jones (William Wyler) - Sonny Boy Mosby 1971 Man And Boy (E.W. Swackhamer) - Nate Hodges 1972 Bone (Larry Cohen) - Bone 1972 Across 110th Street (Barry Shear) - Lt. Pope 1973 Live And Let Die (Guy Hamilton) - Dr. Kananga / Mr. Big 1974 Truck Turner (Jonathan Kaplan) - Harvard Blue 1975 Report To The Commissioner (Milton Katselas) - Richard "Crunch" Blackstone 1975 Sharks' Treasure (Cornel Wilde) - Ben Flynn 1975 Friday Foster (Arthur Marks) - Colt Hawkins 1976 Drum (Steve Carver) - Blaise 1976 The Monkey Hustle (Arthur Marks) - Big Daddy Foxx 1976 Raid On Entebbe (Irvin Kershner) - President Idi Amin 1978 Blue Collar (Paul Schrader) - Smokey James 1979 Alien (Ridley Scott) - Parker 1980s :1980 Brubaker (Stuart Rosenberg) - Richard 'Dickie' Coombes 1982 Fighting Back (Lewis Teague) - Ivanhoe Washington 1983 The Star Chamber (Peter Hyams) - Det. Harry Lowes 1985 Warning Sign (Hal Barwood) - Major Connolly 1986 Eye Of The Tiger (Richard Sarafian) - J. B. Deveraux 1987 Prettykill (George Kaczender) - Harris 1987 Terminal Entry (John Kincade) - Conl. Styles 1987 The Running Man (Paul Michael Glaser) - William Laughlin 1988 Midnight Run (Martin Brest) - FBI Agent Alonzo Mosely 1989 The Jigsaw Murders (Jag Mundhra) - Doctor Filmore 1989 Prime Target (David Heavener) - Gilmore Brown 1989 Tripwire (James Lemmo) - Lee Pitt 1990s :1991 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Rachel Talalay) - Doc 1993 Extreme Justice (Mark L. Lester) - Larson 1994 The Puppet Masters (Stuart Orme) - Ressler 1995 Out Of Sync (Debbie Allen) - Quincy 1996 Almost Blue (Keoni Waxman) - Big Terry
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Post by Doghouse6 on Oct 8, 2017 3:50:32 GMT
I was privileged to have seen him play Othello in 1969, with Beah Richards (as Desdemona) and George Takei (an electrifying Iago), as part of the Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center's repertory company, and around that same time, he was very supportive of my high school theater arts program, in which his cousin Deborah was involved and the performances of which he always attended, never failing to offer both encouragement and candid yet helpful criticism after performances.
There were other students related to players familiar to TV and film viewers, but Mr Kotto's council was the most sought-after. Example: I once received the same critique from both he and Victor French. From French, it was, "Your gestures almost had me fooled, but you're too busy with your hands, and it comes off like a gimmick." From Mr. Kotto, it was, "Control is key in acting. Gestures are not always necessary, but when you make them, think about what it is that you're communicating with your body to give that action meaning."
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Post by petrolino on Oct 8, 2017 3:58:31 GMT
I was privileged to have seen him play Othello in 1969, with Beah Richards (as Desdemona) and George Takei (an electrifying Iago), as part of the Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center's repertory company, and around that same time, he was very supportive of my high school theater arts program, in which his cousin Deborah was involved and the performances of which he always attended, never failing to offer both encouragement and candid yet helpful criticism after performances. There were other students related to players familiar to TV and film viewers, but Mr Kotto's council was the most sought-after. Example: I once received the same critique from both he and Victor French. From French, it was, "Your gestures almost had me fooled, but you're too busy with your hands, and it comes off like a gimmick." From Mr. Kotto, it was, "Control is key in acting. Gestures are not always necessary, but when you make them, think about what it is that you're communicating with your body to give that action meaning." Yaphet Kotto sounds to be concise, direct and professional based upon things I've heard, yet a thoroughly decent guy off-screen. Thanks for sharing creative memories. |
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Oct 8, 2017 3:59:34 GMT
Awesome actor. Always thought he should be better known than he is.
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Post by petrolino on Oct 8, 2017 4:12:53 GMT
Awesome actor. Always thought he should be better known than he is.
New York & L.A. - two brutal cities in the show business to be beware of ... hardcore New York trio ...
James Caan
Christopher Walken
Sylvester Stallone
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Oct 8, 2017 4:18:32 GMT
Awesome actor. Always thought he should be better known than he is.
New York & L.A. - two brutal cities in the show business to be beware of ... hardcore New York trio ...
James Caan
Christopher Walken
Sylvester Stallone
Those guys are good, but they are pale imitations of Yaphet Kotto. No pun intended on the "pale" thing. |
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Post by teleadm on Oct 9, 2017 17:25:35 GMT
I remember thinking Across 110th Street 1972, that it was unpleasantly violent (maybe it aimed at realism) at the time, in the early 1980s when I watched it.
Who can forget Mr Big's spectacular demise in Live and Let Die 1973?
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Post by petrolino on Oct 9, 2017 17:47:26 GMT
I remember thinking Across 110th Street 1972, that it was unpleasantly violent (maybe it aimed at realism) at the time, in the early 1980s when I watched it. Who can forget Mr Big's spectacular demise in Live and Let Die 1973? 'Across 110th Street' has a great title theme by Bobby Womack and 'Live And Let Die' has a great title tune by Wings. |
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Post by Stammerhead on Oct 9, 2017 18:52:25 GMT
Who can forget Mr Big's spectacular demise in Live and Let Die 1973?  |
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Oct 10, 2017 2:03:02 GMT
he was great in MIDNIGHT RUN.
he is also a bit of an alien nutter.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Oct 10, 2017 2:10:01 GMT
I liked him on 'Homicide: Life on the Street'. For me it's "on" for tv (series, miniseries and tv-films) and "in" for theatrical films.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Oct 10, 2017 17:11:02 GMT
Yaphet Kotto "is the son of a Cameroonian crown prince"
His father, Njoki Manga Bell, was the great-grandson of King Alexander Bell, who ruled the Douala region of Cameroon in the late 19th century, before the nation fell into the hands of Germany and, later, France and Britain. Fleeing the Germans, Manga Bell emigrated to Harlem in the 1920s and changed his name to Abraham Kotto (the surname is from a relative).
and yet he played Al Giardello on "Homicide: Life on the Street".
Was he perhaps adopted by the Giardello family ?
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Post by petrolino on Oct 12, 2017 20:13:38 GMT
he was great in MIDNIGHT RUN. he is also a bit of an alien nutter. Kotto was approached to play the role of Starfleet officer Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 'Star Trek : The Next Generation'. The part eventually went to Patrick Stewart. |
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Post by petrolino on Oct 12, 2017 20:18:42 GMT
I liked him on 'Homicide: Life on the Street'. For me it's "on" for tv (series, miniseries and tv-films) and "in" for theatrical films. My favourite police show of the 1990s. The episode 'End Game' featuring Steve Buscemi would rank for me among the 10 greatest tv episodes from any show I've seen. |
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Post by petrolino on Oct 12, 2017 20:20:47 GMT
Yaphet Kotto "is the son of a Cameroonian crown prince" His father, Njoki Manga Bell, was the great-grandson of King Alexander Bell, who ruled the Douala region of Cameroon in the late 19th century, before the nation fell into the hands of Germany and, later, France and Britain. Fleeing the Germans, Manga Bell emigrated to Harlem in the 1920s and changed his name to Abraham Kotto (the surname is from a relative).
and yet he played Al Giardello on "Homicide: Life on the Street". Was he perhaps adopted by the Giardello family ? Couldn't say. In interviews, Kotto enjoys embellishing his mysterious past with fantastical musings, making it hard to tell fact from fiction. He's pretty out there. |
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Post by poelzig on Oct 12, 2017 20:45:31 GMT
I liked him on 'Homicide: Life on the Street'. For me it's "on" for tv (series, miniseries and tv-films) and "in" for theatrical films. My favourite police show of the 1990s. The episode 'End Game' featuring Steve Buscemi would rank for me among the 10 greatest tv episodes from any show I've seen. Homicide was one of the best police shows of any decade. End Game was excellent. Subway, Bop Gun (with Robin Williams in a brilliant dramatic role) Three Men and Adena Watson, the Luther Mahoney saga all rank among the best episodes in TV history. Considering the limited number of episodes scattered over several seasons, Homicide has to have one of the best ratios of excellent TV of any series. It is one of the most underappreciated dramas of all time. Yaphet Koto is a very good actor that should be seen more often. |
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Post by petrolino on Oct 12, 2017 20:51:08 GMT
My favourite police show of the 1990s. The episode 'End Game' featuring Steve Buscemi would rank for me among the 10 greatest tv episodes from any show I've seen. Homicide was one of the best police shows of any decade. End Game was excellent. Subway, Bop Gun (with Robin Williams in a brilliant dramatic role) Three Men and Adena Watson, the Luther Mahoney saga all rank among the best episodes in TV history. Considering the limited number of episodes scattered over several seasons, Homicide has to have one of the best ratios of excellent TV of any series. It is one of the most underappreciated dramas of all time. Yaphet Koto is a very good actor that should be seen more often. It had a very cool filming style too. It felt very raw the way they used camera and editing. |
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Post by vegalyra on Apr 22, 2019 19:42:44 GMT
I saw him recently in Raid on Entebbe. He played General Idi Amin. He did an excellent job in the role. I have the Criterion documentary on General Idi Amin Dada and I watched The Last King of Scotland (Forest Whitaker) recently as well and Mr. Kotto was extremely convincing in the role. I wish he had revisited it in a bio type picture.  |
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Post by them1ghtyhumph on Apr 22, 2019 22:28:54 GMT
Al Giardello is half Sicilian American.
Always thought Kotto should have gooen a few Emmy noms for 'Homicide'
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Apr 23, 2019 15:48:32 GMT
I'm Mosely!
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