Yaphet Kotto

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Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Alphonse Giardello in Homicide.
Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Alphonse Giardello in Homicide.

Prince Yaphet Frederick Kotto (born November 15, 1937, in New York City) is an American actor.

Contents

[edit] Early life

His parents were from Cameroon. His father, Abraham Kotto, was royalty, the Crown Prince of the Bell family of the Duala people in the Douala region of Central Africa's Cameroon. [The Edmonton Journal May 28, 2000].

Kotto's parents were both African Jews and he himself is a devout, practicing Jew.

Being Black and Jewish gave other kids even more reason, he said, to pick on him growing up in New York City.[1] "It was rough coming up," Kotto said. "And then going to shul, putting a yarmulke on, having to face people who were primarily Baptists in the Bronx meant that on Fridays I was in some heavy fistfights." [2]

[edit] Career

[edit] Theater

By the age of 16, he was studying acting at the Actor's Mobile Theater Studio, and at 19, he made his professional acting debut in Othello. He also was a member of the Actors Studio in New York.

Kotto got his start in acting on Broadway, where he appeared in The Great White Hope, among other productions.

[edit] Film

His film debut was in 1963 in an uncredited role in 4 For Texas, but his first big break came in Nothing But a Man in 1964.

Later, he landed the role of the James Bond villain Mr. Big in Live and Let Die, as well as roles in Across 110th Street and Truck Turner. He also starred as an auto worker alongside Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel in the commercial failure Blue Collar.

The following year he played one of his best-known roles, as Parker in the successful sci-fi/horror film Alien.

[edit] Television

He played Lieutenant Al Giardello in the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. The Giardello character reflected Kotto's own ethnic complexity, portrayed as a widower, a product of an African-American mother and Italian father. At reflective times, the Giaradello character would recall the tough lot of being an African-American Baltimore police officer in the turbulent 1960s. At others, he would lapse into Sicilian, or quote Sicilian sayings to his detectives. This, and his strong, assertive presence gave the character great depth throughout the life of the series.

[edit] Writer

He has written two books: "Royalty," and "The Second Coming of Christ." He also wrote scripts for Homicide: Life on the Street.

[edit] Family

  • Kotto has been married three times, and has 5 children.
  • His son Robert recently had his first child.
  • Kotto's father immigrated in the 1920s, and changed his name from Njoki Manga Bell when he arrived in New York.
  • Kotto claims to have uncovered proof that he is the great-great-great-grandson of Britain's Queen Victoria. According to Kotto, the Queen's son Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII) had an illicit affair with Princess Nakande, daughter of King Doualla Manga Bell, producing the light-skinned Alexander Bell, Kotto's great-grandfather. But Queen Elizabeth's deputy press secretary denied the story, saying "Edward VII never visited Cameroon."[3]

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • Has a Bay Area hardcore punk band named after him.
  • Appeared in TV Nation in an experiment to see who would have more trouble getting a taxi - a distinguished black actor or a white felon.[1]

[edit] Selected filmography

Among his better known films and television performances are:

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ Michael Moore FAQ part 2

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Charles Gray		 Official James Bond villain actor
1973		 Succeeded by
Christopher Lee
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