Daily BirthdaysYaphet Kotto
Kotto made his screen debut in 1964 in director Michael Roemer's insightful look into black life in the South, Nothing But a Man, and received raves for his role as Sonny Boy Mosby, murderer of a bestial cop, in William Wyler's The Liberation of L.B. Jones and Paul Schrader's Blue Collar. He made his feature directorial debut with The Limit. Among his many film roles, Kotto was the nemesis for Roger Moore's 007 in Live and Let Die, an exasperated FBI agent in Midnight Run, and an action hero in Running Man, with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Kotto starred for several years for his role as Lieutenant Al Giardello in the acclaimed television series Homicide: Life in the Street, even writing an episode, Narcissus for its 1996-97 season. He won an Emmy nomination for playing General Idi Amin in Raid on Entebbe. His television credits also include the films Badge of the Assassin, Desperado, Prime Target and Two If By Sea, and Arthur Miller's The American Clock, plus numerous series guest starring appearances.
Kotto made his professional debut in the title role of Othello. On Broadway, Kotto succeeded James Earl Jones as boxing champion Jack Johnson in The Great White Hope. Kotto's stage work includes the role of Troy Maxson in the Washington, D.C. and London stage productions of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences.
Yaphet Kotto Facts
| Birth Name | Yaphet Frederick Kotto |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Birthday | November 15, 1937 (71) |
| Sign | Scorpio |
| Birthplace | New York, New York, USA |
| Height | 6' 3" (1m91) |