![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Yaphet-Kotto-Obit-Logo.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Iconic film and television actor Yaphet Kotto, best remembered for roles in Ridley Scott’s Alien<\/em>, the 1975 James Bond entry Live & Let Die<\/em>, and on long-running crime series Homicide: Life On The Street<\/em>, has passed away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It may surprise some to learn that Yaphet Kotto was already a prolific film actor by the time he appeared in 1979’s sci-fi horror masterpiece Alien<\/em>, alongside Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver and Ian Holm. Minor roles in 4 For Texas<\/em> in 1963, The Thomas Crown Affair<\/em> (1968), Night Chase<\/em> (1970) and Man & Boy<\/em> (1971) kicked off his lengthy career, before he became a bona-fide screen icon opposite Roger Moore as the central villain Mr Big, in Live And Let Die<\/em>, the first outing as James Bond for the new star.<\/p>\n Lead roles followed, including 1975’s Report To The Commissioner<\/em> and Sharks’ Treasure,<\/em> Drum<\/em> (1976) and Irvin Kershner’s 1977 television film Raid On Entebbe<\/em>, while his seminal performance in 1978’s Blue Collar<\/em> saw the film acquire near universal acclaim for both he and his fellow co-stars, including Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel.<\/p>\n Undoubtedly the most memorable role Kotto played was as Parker, the ship’s mechanic, in Ridley Scott’s 1979 space-horror Alien<\/em>. Alongside Skerritt, Weaver and Holm, Kotto’s performance with veteran actor Harry Dean Stanton in the blood-soaked thriller is remembered for some of film’s most enduring and popular lines. Sadly, Kotto would not appear in any of the Alien<\/em> sequels and spin-offs, although he did<\/em> make a minor cameo in archival still-image form in James Cameron’s action-packed Aliens<\/em>, in 1986.<\/p>\n From Alien<\/em>, Kotto appeared in a string of low-budget and B-movie roles alongside the occasional blockbuster – 1983’s The Star Chamber<\/em> was directed by Peter Hyams (The Relic<\/em>) and co-starred Michael Douglas and Hal Holbrook, while he had a blast in Paul Michael Glaser’s enthusiastic Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner The Running Man<\/em> (1987), as a fellow “contestant” in the world’s worst reality television broadcast. Kotto played a large role in 1988’s iconic comedy classic Midnight Run<\/em> with Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin, as FBI Special Agent Alonzo Mosely.<\/p>\n On television, Mr Kotto has a number of guest star roles in ongoing series, including Bonanza<\/em> (1968), Gunsmoke<\/em> (1970), Roots<\/em> (1977), and Murder She Wrote<\/em> (1987), however it is for his lead actor performance in the long-running series Homicide: Life On The Street<\/em>, which ran between 1993 and 2000, that he is most remembered on the small screen.<\/p>\n At the time of his passing on March 15th, Yaphet Kotto was 81.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Iconic film and television actor Yaphet Kotto, best remembered for roles in Ridley Scott’s Alien,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48482,"featured_media":61776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituary"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto.jpg",1000,563,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-500x280.jpg",500,280,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-660x365.jpg",660,365,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-840x563.jpg",640,429,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto.jpg",1000,563,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto.jpg",1000,563,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto.jpg",1000,563,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto.jpg",540,304,false],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/yaphet-kotto.jpg",272,153,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Rodney Twelftree","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/author\/rodney\/"},"category_info":"Obituary<\/a>","tag_info":"Obituary","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/alien-2.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MV5BYzZkNDMxYjYtODQ4Mi00OTU3LWIyZjctMTI5ZDkwZGJmOGMzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUwNzk3NDc@._V1_.jpg\")