In Memoriam: Yaphet Kotto
by Emily Nagle
Yaphet Kotto, an actor best known for his roles in “Alien” and the James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” has passed away in the Philippines at the age of 81.
Born and raised in New York City, Kotto first became inspired to start acting when he was 16 years old and watched “The Defiant Ones” starring Sidney Poitier, an African-American actor. “Standing right there on the screen was this tall black man,” Kotto recalled in a 1994 interview with the Chicago Tribune. “And I said to myself, ‘I could be like him.’” Also an inspiration for him was Marlon Brando of “On the Waterfront” fame.
Three years later, he got his first professional acting role in Othello. After years of acting on Broadway, his first major film role came in 1973, when he played villain Mr. Big in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die.” In 1979, he played Parker, the chief engineer in the sci-fi horror hit “Alien.”
Kotto is survived by six children, along with his wife Tessie Sinahon, who announced his death in a heartbreaking Facebook post Monday night. She wrote, “You played a villain on some of your movies but for me you’re a real hero and to a lot of people also. A good man, a good father, a good husband and a decent human being, very rare to find.”