Biography
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 opposi...
Known For
Complete Filmography

King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen
2018
as Self
A feature-length documentary focusing on the acclaimed work and eclectic career of maverick filmmaker Larry Cohen, writer-director of "Black Caesar," ...

Witless Protection
2008
as 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 ...

The Beast Within: Making Alien
2003
as (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 on...
Best Ever Bond
2002
as Mr. Big / Dr. Kananga (archive footage) (uncredited)
Roger Moore presents the ten best sequences ever to have appeared in the James Bond series, and cast members recall their favourite moments.

BaadAsssss Cinema
2002
as Self
With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than...

Stiletto Dance
2001
as Captain Rick Sands
Two undercover police officers must try to prevent a multi-million dollar nuclear arms deal among several mob factions.

The Ride
2000
as 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 comp...

Homicide: The Movie
2000
as 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, c...

Inside 'Live and Let Die'
1999
A behind the scenes look at the James Bond film "Live and Let Die"
The Defenders: Payback
1997
as Judge Williams
Television movie remake of the 1960s courtroom drama series, "The Defenders." After the death of his eldest son and his partner in the law firm of Pre...

Two If by Sea
1996
as 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 invol...

The World of James Bond
1995
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.

Out-of-Sync
1995
as Quincy
A DJ and ex-con is forced to work with the police in an undercover drug sting targeting his boss.

Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan
1995
as 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...

Dead Badge
1995
as 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 Tor...

The Puppet Masters
1994
as Ressler
The Earth is invaded by alien parasites—AKA 'slugs'—that ride on people's backs and control their minds.

The Corpse Had a Familiar Face
1994
as 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.

Almost Blue
1993
as 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 aft...

Extreme Justice
1993
as 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...

It's Nothing Personal
1993
as 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.

The American Clock
1993
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 cra...

Intent to Kill
1992
as Captain Jackson
A young policewoman relentlessly tries to bring down a ruthless drug kingpin whom plots his own agenda for his drug distribution empire.

Chrome Soldiers
1992
as Perry Beach
Five ex-soldiers go to a small town in Oregon to help a friend investigate the murder of his brother.

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
1991
as 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 Mag...

Hangfire
1991
as 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 furiou...

After the Shock
1990
as 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...

Tripwire
1989
as 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 weapon...

Ministry of Vengeance
1989
as 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 l...

Prime Target
1989
as 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 po...

The Jigsaw Murders
1989
as Doctor Tyrone Fillmore
A jigsaw puzzle is the key in a detective's investigation of a gruesome murder.

A Whisper to a Scream
1989
as 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 h...

Terminal Entry
1988
as 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...

Midnight Run
1988
as Alonzo Mosely, Special Agent, F.B.I.
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....

Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
1987
as 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...

The Running Man
1987
as 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 pac...

In Self Defense
1987
as Lt. Tyrell
A witness is terrorized by the killer against whom she testified.

Desperado
1987
as Bede
Cowboy Duell McCall wants to quickly deliver a herd of cattle to town, get paid and move on but romance with local girl Nora gets him involved in a fe...

Pretty Kill
1987
as 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 proble...

The Park Is Mine
1986
as Eubanks
A Vietnam vet takes forceful control of Central Park to remember those who served and died in the Vietnam War.

Eye of the Tiger
1986
as 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 bi...

Harem
1986
as 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 ge...

Warning Sign
1985
as Major Connolly
An accident occurs in an ultra-secret government biological weapons laboratory spreading a sinister bacteria.

Playing with Fire
1985
as Fire Chief Walker
Gary Coleman stars as a teenage arsonist. The authorities, friends, and neighbors warn his absentee parents until it is too late.

Badge of the Assassin
1985
as 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 dete...

Women of San Quentin
1983
as 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.

For Love and Honor
1983
as 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...

The Star Chamber
1983
as 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 wi...

Fighting Back
1982
as Ivanhoe Washington
An Italian deli owner forms a vigilante group to rid his Philadelphia neighborhood of street punks.

A House Divided: Denmark Vessey's Rebellion
1982
as 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 fa...

Rage!
1980
as Ernie
In an attempt to be rehabilitated, a rapist goes to therapy while in prison.

Brubaker
1980
as 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.

Othello
1980
as 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...

Alien
1979
as 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...

Blue Collar
1978
as 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 ...

Raid on Entebbe
1976
as 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 la...

The Monkey Hustle
1976
as Daddy Foxx
A new highway threatens a Chicago neighborhood, so to protest the residents throw a block party.

Drum
1976
as Blase
A mid-19th century mulatto slave is torn between his success as a pit-fighter and the injustices of white society.

Crunch
1976
as Richard "Crunch" Blackstone
Detective goes after drug-dealers in Manhattan.

Friday Foster
1975
as 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 Am...

Sharks' Treasure
1975
as 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

Report to the Commissioner
1975
as 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 instr...

Truck Turner
1974
as 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.

Live and Let Die
1973
as 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...

Bond 1973: The Lost Documentary
1973
as Self
Original 1973 short promotional documentary on the making of the 8th James Bond movie Live and Let Die (1973).

Across 110th Street
1972
as 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 tw...

The Limit
1972
as Mark Johnson
In Los Angeles, black motorcycle police officer Mark Johnson patrols gang-infested neighborhoods with his white partner and best friend, Jeff McMillan...

The Limit
1972
Director, Story, Producer
In Los Angeles, black motorcycle police officer Mark Johnson patrols gang-infested neighborhoods with his white partner and best friend, Jeff McMillan...

Bone
1972
as 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 h...

Man and Boy
1971
as 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.

Night Chase
1970
as 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 Mexica...

The Liberation of L.B. Jones
1970
as 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 ...

5 Card Stud
1968
as Little George
The players in an ongoing poker game are being mysteriously killed off, one by one.

The Thomas Crown Affair
1968
as 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,...

Nothing But a Man
1964
as Jocko
A proud black man and his school-teacher wife face discriminatory challenges in 1960s America.