A true giant of cinema and TV
WHETHER he was playing a meglomaniac James Bond baddie or a no-nonsense homicide commander, Yaphet Kotto had a spellbinding screen magnetism that demanded full attention.
The 6ft 4in actor became the first black villain in the 007 series in 1973’s Live And Let Die, oozing charisma as the dapper Caribbean dictator Dr Kananga and his alter ego, the drug kingpin Mr Big.
Kotto’s commanding performance, by turns charming and menacing, saw him land a part in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror Alien as chief engineer Parker, who met a brutal demise.
Years later, Kotto said he turned down a separate £2.5million movie offer to secure the role even though he wasn’t guaranteed it.
He was also the first choice for Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back but passed for fear of being typecast in space films.
He was never short of work in the 1980s and 1990s, playing a resistance fighter in 1987’s dystopian thriller The Running Man and an FBI agent in action film Midnight Run in 1988.
During his seven-year run as Lieutenant Al Giardello in the acclaimed US detective series Homicide: Life On The Street, Kotto was nominated for four NAACP Image Awards, which honours actors of colour, and worked as its screenwriter.
He was born in New York City to American nurse Gladys Marie and businessman Avraham Kotto, who emigrated from Cameroon.
After studying at the Actors Mobile Theater Studio, he made his professional theatre debut in Othello. He also had a role in The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968 and was nominated for an Emmy in 1977’s Raid On Entebbe as Ugandan despot leader Idi Amin.
Kotto’s death was announced in a statement by his third wife,Tessie Sinahon, who survives him along with his six children.