Yaphet Kotto
Birthday: Born in 1939-11-16 in New York City, New York, U.S.A
Deathday: 2021-03-15
Yaphet Frederick Kotto (November 16, 1939 – March 15, 2021) was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99) as Lieutenant Al Giardello. His films include the science-fiction and horror film Alien (1979), and the Arnold Schwarzenegger science-fiction and action film The Running Man (1987). He portrayed the main villain Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die (1973). He appeared opposite Robert De Niro in the comedy thriller Midnight Run (1988) as FBI Agent Alonzo Mosley.
TV Credits
The A-Team
Character: Charles Struthers
A fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel work as soldiers of fortune while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit."...
seaQuest DSV
Character: Captain Jack Clayton
In the early 21st century, mankind has colonized the oceans. The United Earth Oceans Organization enlists Captain Nathan Bridger and the submarine seaQuest DSV to keep the peace and explore the last frontier on Earth....
Hawaii Five-O
Character: LCpl. John T. Auston
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Many episodes would end with McGarrett...
The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Convict
The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1985 to 1986, and on the USA Network from 1987 to 1989. The series is an updated re-imagining of the classic 1955 series Alfred Hitchcock Presents....
Mannix
Character:
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions....
Hill Street Blues
Character: Calvin Matthias
A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station....
Gunsmoke
Character: Piney Biggs
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television....
Night Gallery
Character:
Rod Serling narrates an anthology of fantasy, horror and sci-fi stories from a set resembling a macabre museum. A chilling work of art serves as the connective link between the stories....
Homicide: Life on the Street
Character: Al Giardello
An American police procedural chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit....
Doctors' Hospital
Character:
Doctors' Hospital is an American medical drama that ran on NBC during the 1975–1976 season....
Daniel Boone
Character: Luke
Daniel Boone is an American action-adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Cherokee friend, for the first four seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone's companion Yadkin in season one only. Dallas McKennon portrayed innkeeper Cincinnatus. Country Western singer-actor Jimmy Dean was a featured actor...
The High Chaparral
Character: Sgt. Major Creason
The High Chaparral is an American Western-themed television series starring Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell which aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971. The series, made by Xanadu Productions in association with NBC Productions, was created by David Dortort, who had previously created the hit Bonanza for the network. The theme song was also written and conducted by Bonanza scorer David Rose, who also scored the two-hour pilot....
The Big Valley
Character: Lobo Brown
The Big Valley is an American western television series which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969. The show stars Barbara Stanwyck, as the widow of a wealthy nineteenth century California rancher. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman, and produced by Levy-Gardner-Laven for Four Star Television....
Cowboy in Africa
Character:
Cowboy in Africa was an American Broadcasting Company television series produced during 1967-1968 by Ivan Tors and featuring Chuck Connors as the main actor. A 1966 television pilot show featuring Hugh O'Brian as Jim Sinclair, made into a movie and released to cinemas, was named Africa - Texas Style....
Tarzan
Character:
Tarzan is a series that aired on NBC from 1966 – 1968. The series portrayed Tarzan as a well-educated character, one who, tired of civilization, had returned to the jungle where he had been raised. The show retained many of the trappings of the classic movie series, including Cheeta, while excluding other elements, such as Jane, as part of the "new look" for the fabled apeman that producer Sy Weintraub had introduced in previous motion pictures starring Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, and Mike Henry...
The Big Valley
Character: Damien
The Big Valley is an American western television series which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969. The show stars Barbara Stanwyck, as the widow of a wealthy nineteenth century California rancher. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman, and produced by Levy-Gardner-Laven for Four Star Television....
Murder, She Wrote
Character: Lt. Bradshaw
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases....
Harem
Character: Agha Kislar
A two-part minseries about a beautiful woman who, at the turn of the century, is kidnapped and sold into a Turkish harem where, as she struggles to protect her life and virtue, she becomes embroiled in the historical tensions and sensuous decadence of the times....
Daniel Boone
Character: Jonah
Daniel Boone is an American action-adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Cherokee friend, for the first four seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone's companion Yadkin in season one only. Dallas McKennon portrayed innkeeper Cincinnatus. Country Western singer-actor Jimmy Dean was a featured actor...
Bonanza
Character: Child Barnett
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community....
Law & Order
Character: Al Giardello
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place....
Father Dowling Mysteries
Character: Lt. Fleming
Father Dowling Mysteries is an American television mystery series that aired from January 20, 1989 to May 2, 1991. Prior to the series, a TV movie aired on November 30, 1987. For its first season, the show was on NBC; it moved to ABC for its last two seasons. It is based on the adventures of the title character created by Ralph McInerny, in a series of mystery novels. The series was produced by The Fred Siverman Company and Dean Hargrove Productions in association with Viacom Productions....
The Name of the Game
Character: Wyman Jackson
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series....
Movie Credits
Live and Let Die
Character: Kananga/Mr. Big
James Bond must investigate a mysterious murder case of a British agent in New Orleans. Soon he finds himself up against a gangster boss named Mr. Big....
The Running Man
Character: William Laughlin
By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free....
The Thomas Crown Affair
Character: Carl
Young businessman Thomas Crown is bored and decides to plan a robbery and assigns a professional agent with the right information to the job. However, Crown is soon betrayed yet cannot blow his cover because he’s in love....
Brubaker
Character: Richard 'Dickie' Coombes
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate....
5 Card Stud
Character: Little George
The players in an ongoing poker game are being mysteriously killed off, one by one....
Homicide: The Movie
Character: Al Giardello
Retired police lieutenant Al Giardello is running for mayor when he is suddenly shot at a press conference. All of the detectives, past and present, clamor for an opportunity to help find the shooter....
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Character: Doc
Just when you thought it was safe to sleep, Freddy Krueger returns in this sixth installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street films, as psychologist Maggie Burroughs, tormented by recurring nightmares, meets a patient with the same horrific dreams. Their quest for answers leads to a certain house on Elm Street -- where the nightmares become reality....
Truck Turner
Character: Blue
Truck Turner and his partner Jerry, who make their living as bounty hunters in Los Angeles, are hired to hunt down Gator, a pimp who has skipped bail....
Across 110th Street
Character: Lt. William Pope
In a daring robbery, some $300,000 is taken from the Italian mob. Several mafiosi are killed, as are two policemen. Lt. Pope and Capt. Mattelli are two New York City cops trying to break the case. Three small-time criminals are on the run with the money. Will the mafia catch them first, or will the police?...
Raid on Entebbe
Character: President Idi Amin - Jr.
Based on a true operation by Israeli commandos. An Air France flight is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The airplane landed in Uganda. The terrorists released some passengers, keeping 94 Jews and 12 air crew hostage. The Israeli government would not negotiate. A rescue plan was devised, and less than 100 commandos were flown across Africa to rescue the passengers in surprisingly successful operation....
The Puppet Masters
Character: Ressler
The Earth is invaded by alien parasites—AKA 'slugs'—that ride on people's backs and control their minds....
Midnight Run
Character: Alonzo Mosely
A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who embezzled $15 million of mob money. He is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail....
Bone
Character: Bone
A thief breaks into the home of a wealthy, happily married Beverly Hills couple. He soon finds out, though, that the couple is neither as wealthy as he thought they were and are not as happily married as they appeared....
The Star Chamber
Character: Detective Harry Lowes
As violence escalates in Los Angeles and heinous murders are committed, Steven Hardin, a young judge of the California Supreme Court, must struggle with his tortured conscience and growing despair as he watches helplessly as the ruthless criminals brought before his court go free because clever lawyers find obscure loopholes in the law....
Warning Sign
Character: Major Connolly
An accident occurs in an ultra-secret government biological weapons laboratory spreading a sinister bacteria....
Eye of the Tiger
Character: J.B. Deveraux
Buck is a Vietnam vet, recently released from prison. He returns home to discover the town being terrorized by a vicious motorcycle gang. When the bikers murder his wife and traumatize his daughter, Buck and his friends arm themselves to the teeth and wage war against the gang to destroy them once and for all....
Terminal Entry
Character: Col. Styles
The USA is attacked by a large group of well organized terrorists who communicate through a computer network via satellite. A bunch of highschool kids has hacked the password and gained access. Believing it's a game they unknowingly cause terror acts all over the country. An anti-terror force fights against the terrorists....
Report to the Commissioner
Character: Richard 'Crunch' Blackstone
Police officer Patty Butler, alias "Chicklet," is the live-in girlfriend of Thomas 'Stick' Henderson to gather evidence. Detective Bo Lockley is instructed to try to find her, not knowing she's also a cop....
Blue Collar
Character: Sam 'Smokey' James
Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters....
Witless Protection
Character: Ricardo Bodi
When a small-town sheriff witnesses what he believes to be an attempted kidnapping, his effort to save the beautiful damsel in distress sets him down a wild path of comic mishap....
BaadAsssss Cinema
Character: Self
With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than a complete record. It features interviews with some of the genre's biggest stars, like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree. Director Melvin Van Peebles discusses the historical importance of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. For a contemporary perspective, the excitable Quentin Tarantino offers his spirited comment...
Two If by Sea
Character: FBI Agent O'Malley
Frank O'Brien, a petty thief, and his 7-year-long girlfriend Roz want to put an end to their unsteady lifestyle and just do that last job, which involves stealing a valuable painting. Frank takes Roz to an island on the coast of New England, where he wants to sell the painting and also hopes that their sagging relationship will get a positive push back up. Not everything goes as planned....
The Park Is Mine
Character: Eubanks
A Vietnam vet takes forceful control of Central Park to remember those who served and died in the Vietnam War....
Tripwire
Character: Lee Pitt
A band of ruthless international terrorists led by Josef Szabo hijack a speeding railroad train loaded with a full arsenal of powerful military weaponry capable of threatening world peace. The only hero who can stop the terrorists' scheme for world domination is Jack DeForest. During the battle between good and evil the hero DeForest accidentally kills the son of the Szabo. Seeking revenge Szabo locates DeForest’s family, murders his wife and kidnaps their teenage son thereby turning their fight...
The Monkey Hustle
Character: Daddy Foxx
A new highway threatens a Chicago neighborhood, so to protest the residents throw a block party....
Friday Foster
Character: Colt Hawkins
Friday Foster, a magazine photographer, goes to Los Angeles International airport to photograph the arrival of Blake Tarr, the richest black man in America. Three men attempt to assassinate Tarr. Foster photographs the melee and is plunged into a web of conspiracy involving the murder of her childhood friend, a US senator, and a shadowy plan called "Black Widow"....
Nothing But a Man
Character: Jocko
A proud black man and his school-teacher wife face discriminatory challenges in 1960s America....
Drum
Character: Blase
A mid-19th century mulatto slave is torn between his success as a pit-fighter and the injustices of white society....
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
Character: Sonny Boy Mosby
A successful African American businessman has a quarrel with a white policeman, suspecting that he is having an affair with his wife. The policeman's colleagues are seeking to avoid publicity....
Extreme Justice
Character: Larson
Jeff Powers is the newest member of a very elite and very secret LAPD division. Their mission is to target important criminals and to get them to stop. Police brutality is not a known term for the division and they will stop at nothing to get the job done, even if it means murder....
Fighting Back
Character: Ivanhoe Washington
An Italian deli owner forms a vigilante group to rid his Philadelphia neighborhood of street punks....
Man and Boy
Character: Nate Hodges
At the beginning of the 19th century a man and his son settle in Arizona which used to be a frontier state and full of criminals at that time....
Ministry of Vengeance
Character: Mr. Whiteside
David Miller is a Vietnam vet who renounced violence and became a minister after he was forced to blow up a Viet Cong kid in self defense, but years later, when David's wife Gail and daughter Kim are killed by a group of terrorists led by Ali Aboud, in a massacre at an airport in Rome, Italy, David is devastated. Going against his faith, David sets out to find and kill Ali Aboud....
In Self Defense
Character: Lt. Tyrell
A witness is terrorized by the killer against whom she testified....
Stiletto Dance
Character: Captain Rick Sands
Two undercover police officers must try to prevent a multi-million dollar nuclear arms deal among several mob factions....
Chrome Soldiers
Character: Perry Beach
Five ex-soldiers go to a small town in Oregon to help a friend investigate the murder of his brother....
Pretty Kill
Character: Harris
A detective tries to track down a serial killer who is murdering prostitutes while at the same time having to deal with his girlfriend's mental problems, which are gradually deteriorating into a split personality....
Badge of the Assassin
Character: Detective Cliff Fenton NYPD
Three black revolutionaries gun down two New York City police officers. The subsequent investigation puts a white assistant DA and a black police detective on the trail of the killers that leads from New York to San Francisco and down to New Orleans....
It's Nothing Personal
Character: Lt. Tom Riley
An embittered ex-cop, on a quest for justice, teams up with a hard-boiled bounty hunter to go after the suspected killer of her brother in a robbery....
Out-of-Sync
Character: Quincy
A DJ and ex-con is forced to work with the police in an undercover drug sting targeting his boss....
A Whisper to a Scream
Character: Jules Tallard
A young girl who was frustrated in her desire to become an actress starts to work for a telephone-sex company. There she meets a fascinating man who has an obsession for music related with crime....
Hangfire
Character: Police Lieutenant
When a large group of escaped convicts take Ike Slayton, a Vietnam veteran's wife hostage, Slayton enlists the help of his old army friend in a furious search to find her, while a hard-nosed National Guardsman leads a platoon of solders determined to kill or capture all the convicts, even if it means killing all the hostages in the crossfire....
Intent to Kill
Character: Captain Jackson
A young policewoman relentlessly tries to bring down a ruthless drug kingpin whom plots his own agenda for his drug distribution empire....
Bond 1973: The Lost Documentary
Character: Self
Original 1973 short promotional documentary on the making of the 8th James Bond movie Live and Let Die (1973)....
Crunch
Character: Richard "Crunch" Blackstone
Detective goes after drug-dealers in Manhattan....
Desperado
Character: Bede
Duell McCall finds himself in the middle of a deadly feud in a small mining town. Framed for the murder of Sheriff John Whaley, McCall is forced to wander the wild frontier in search of the one man who can clear him....
The Jigsaw Murders
Character: Doctor Tyrone Fillmore
A jigsaw puzzle is the key in a detective's investigation of a gruesome murder....
After the Shock
Character: William McElroy
On October 17 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale rocked San Francisco. Presented here are some of the stories of the brave members of the public and emergency services who rescued people who were trapped in the rubble in houses or on the freeway....
The Limit
Character: Mark Johnson
In Los Angeles, black motorcycle police officer Mark Johnson patrols gang-infested neighborhoods with his white partner and best friend, Jeff McMillan. One afternoon, Mark has a run-in with a gang known as The Virgins, whose leader, Big Donnie, is taken aback by the policeman's understanding, dignified demeanor despite the gang's constant derision. When Mark advises Donnie not to continue to allow his heavily pregnant girl friend, Judy, to ride a motorbike, the gang leader agrees. Later, after D...
Alien
Character: Parker
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed....
Night Chase
Character: Ernie Green
A man fleeing the scene after shooting his wife's lover forms an unexpected relationship with the tough cab driver he hires to drive him to the Mexican border....
Harem
Character: Agha Kislar
A young British woman is kidnapped by an Arabian sheikh and held captive in his harem. At first she frantically tries to escape, but as they slowly get to know and appreciate each other the difference between captor and captive dissolves....
Prime Target
Character: Gilmore Brown
A homicide detective assigned to investigate the serial killings of New York policewomen begins to suspect that the serial killer might be a fellow police officer....
Sharks' Treasure
Character: Ben Flynn
Eccentric charter skipper Jim Carnahan and his team of hard-luck dreamers battle sharks, bandits and their own greed to recover sunken treasure...
Playing with Fire
Character: Fire Chief Walker
Gary Coleman stars as a teenage arsonist. The authorities, friends, and neighbors warn his absentee parents until it is too late....
Women of San Quentin
Character: Sgt. Therman Patterson
A young female prison guard finds out that her first assignment is to San Quentin, one of the toughest prisons in the country....
The Corpse Had a Familiar Face
Character: Detective Martin Talbot
The Corpse had a Familiar Face is a 1994 American TV-Movie with Elizabeth Montgomery, playing Edna Buchanan, a Miami's criminal journalist....
Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan
Character: Marty Talbot
Inspired by the the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning, Miami-based journalist, Edna Buchanan, who investigates the murder of a man with ties to the Miami mafia....
King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen
Character: Self
A feature-length documentary focusing on the acclaimed work and eclectic career of maverick filmmaker Larry Cohen, writer-director of "Black Caesar," "It's Alive," "God Told Me To," "Q," "The Stuff," and many more....
Othello
Character: Othello
The Moorish general Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality it is all part of the scheme of a bitter ensign named Iago....
The American Clock
Character:
Moe, Rose and Lee Baumler are members of an upper class family who find the world completely changed when they lose everything in the stock market crash of 1929. Lee, a college-age young man, who now faces no possibility of entering college, decides to go on the road to see what is happening to the rest of the country....
For Love and Honor
Character: Sgt. China Bell
A military drama set on a Texas base focuses on the ups and downs of young paratroopers, who, while they're gearing up for possible combat assignments, often find themselves entangled in love affairs....
The Beast Within: Making Alien
Character: (archive footage)
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Alien,” the terrifying classic about a spaceship crew trapped with a hideous monster that's hunting them one by one....
Rage!
Character: Ernie
In an attempt to be rehabilitated, a rapist goes to therapy while in prison....
Dead Badge
Character: Captain Hunt
After a cop dies, his shield goes back on duty. They call it a "dead badge" - a way to honor a fallen officer. Badge #2424 used to belong to Many Torres - a cop who died of a heroin O.D. Now it belongs to Dan Sampson... and it's haunting him....
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
Character: General Sorenson
Perry is suing a gutter trash newspaper that is running a story about a love affair between him and Della. The editor also has "dirt" files on an Army General, his banker and other "clients". All of them make little-concealed verbal threats to him at a party but the person that hated him most is a female reporter who the editor had just fired from the paper for attempting to write a serious story. She threatens him and soon after the editor is found, floating in his pool, shot. The reporter is a...
Almost Blue
Character: Terry
The young jazz saxophonist Morris Poole is at the height of his career. When his wife dies he is almost overcome by grief and blames himself. When after a while he finds a new love, he ends up in a situation that reminds him of his wife's mysterious death....
Inside 'Live and Let Die'
Character:
A behind the scenes look at the James Bond film "Live and Let Die"...
The World of James Bond
Character:
Elizabeth Hurley hosts a one hour documentary on the history of the James Bond film series to tie in with the seventeenth Bond film, GoldenEye....
A House Divided: Denmark Vessey's Rebellion
Character: Denmark Vessey
Story of Denmark Vesey, who was raised as a slave but bought his freedom. He organized a plot to seize the city and free the black slaves, but this failed and he and others were hanged. Set in Charleston in 1822....
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Character: Self (archive footage)
For decades, Freddy Krueger has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films....
The Ride
Character: Carter
Originally intended as a pilot for a drama series on Canadian channel Showcase, this TV movie follows the daily lives of drivers for an urban cab company....