Yaphet kotto actor biography
Yaphet kotto actor biography
Avraham kotto.
MI6
African-American actor, Yaphet Kotto, who played the corrupt Caribbean diplomat Dr. Kananga who also doubled as the Harlem gangster Mr. Big in the eighth James Bond film, 'Live And Let Die' died on 15 March 2021 in the Philippines.
He was 81. Kotto made more than 70 film and TV appearances in a vibrant career spanning five decades.
Yaphet Frederick Kotto was born in New York City on 15 November 1939. Raised in the Bronx by his grandparents, while his mother served in the US army, Kotto showed interest in the performing arts from an early age.
He once said he was inspired by Sidney Poitier’s appearance in ‘The Defiant Ones’ (1958), “Standing right there on the screen was this tall black man and I said to myself, ‘I could be like him.’”
He joined the Actors Mobile Theater and by 19, had made his Broadway debut appearing in a production of ‘Othello’ and later the musical comedy ‘The Zulu and the Zayda.’ In 19