Remembering Yaphet Kotto the ‘Alien’ and ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ actor, dead at 81

Screen legend Yaphet Kotto has died.
Yaphet Kotto was an actor whose notable roles include engineer Parker in the sci-fi classic “Alien” and Lieutenant Al Giardello in TV’s “Homicide: Life on the Street.” He reportedly passed away on March 14, 2021 in the Phillipines where he lived with his wife.
In a statement on Facebook his wife wrote:
“I’m saddened and still in shocked of the passing of my husband Yaphet of 24 years. He died last night around 10:30pm Philippine time,” 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. One of the best actor in Hollywood a Legend. Rest in Peace Honey, I’m gonna miss you everyday, my best friend, my rock.”

Remembering Yaphet Kotto video @ https://www.cali.fm

By the age of 16, Kotto was studying acting at the Actors Mobile Theater Studio, and at 19, he made his professional acting debut in Othello. He 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.

His film debut was in 1963, aged 23, in an uncredited role in 4 For Texas. He performed in Michael Roemer’s Nothing But a Man (1964) and played a supporting role in the caper film The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). He played John Auston, a confused Marine Lance Corporal, in the 1968 episode, “King of the Hill”, on the first season of Hawaii Five-O.