Tougher Than Leather: A Selected Filmography of Yaphet Kotto (Vibe Magazine, July 1999)
Tougher Than Leather: A Selected Filmography of Yaphet Kotto
Player. Pimp. Handyman. Hardass. Actor Yaphet Kotto has deployed his unmistakably gritty voice and leonine countenance in all these guises over the course of a career that consists of more than 40 films, from his un-credited big-screen debut in the 1963 Frank Sinatra vehicle 4 for Texas, to the role of Dickie Coombes in the 1980 prison-reform drama Brubaker, and his turn as a child psychologist in 1991's Nightmare on Elm Street Part VI: Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Currently starring as Lieut. Al Giardello on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street, Kotto, 62, maintains the tradition of classically trained actors like Paul Robeson, Marlon Brando, and Sidney Poitier by bringing an air of majesty to his characterizations.
The Thomas Crown Affair
(United Artists, 1968)
CHARACTER: Carl, a thief hired by millionaire playboy Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen)
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Sticks gun up bystander's nose during bank robbery
QUOTABLE: Addresses uptight fellow robber as "Baby"
THREADS: Sharp suit, Ray Ban-style shades, fedora
Across 110th Street
(United Artists, 1972)
CHARACTER: Lieutenant Pope, a highly principled Harlem homicide detective
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Pulls his out-of-control partner (Anthony Quinn) off a suspect who won't talk
QUOTABLE: "Don't give me any of that 'brother' crap, I'm a police officer and I asked you a question!"
THREADS: Navy blue business suit, striped tie, Buddy Holly glasses
Live and Let Die
(United Artists, 1973)
CHARACTER: Kananga, a.k.a. Mr. Big, leader of a New Orleans voodoo cult who plans on hooking the world on heroin
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Slices James Bond's (Roger Moore) arm and dangles him over a pool of sharks
QUOTABLE: "Any cost, any cost. Bond must die."
THREADS: Antelope head worn as a crown
Truck Turner
(American International, 1974)
CHARACTER: Harvard Blue, the newest pimp in town
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Has his henchmen hang Truck Turner's (Isaac Hayes) cat
QUOTABLE: "The sky's about to open up on your head. Better retire, take a vacation, lay on a beach for about 90 years."
THREADS: White overcoat with brown fur collar, ebony cane with gold handle
Friday Foster
(Orion, 1975)
CHARACTER: Colt Hawkins, a private eye tailing cheating spouses
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Kills hitman Yarbro (Carl Weathers) during rooftop shoot-out to save Friday Foster (Pam Grier)
QUOTABLE: "So you're out of the slammer! How was the bread and water?"
THREADS: Indigo leisure suit, orange suede jacket
Blue Collar
(T.A.T. Communications, 1978)
CHARACTER: Smokey James, who works in a Detroit-area auto plant alongside Zeke Brown (Richard Pryor) and Jerry Bartowski (Harvey Keitel)
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Beats two union henchmen with a bat; suffocates in paint chamber when forklift traps him inside
QUOTABLE: "They pit the lifers against the new boys, the young against the old, the black against the white. Everything they do is to keep us in our place."
THREADS: DIZZY GILLESPIE FOR PRESIDENT T-shirt
Alien
(20th Century Fox, 1979)
CHARACTER: Parker, a deckhand aboard interstellar mining ship The Nostromo
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Bashes the android Ash (Ian Holm) into pieces; gets dismembered by the Alien, leaving Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) alone on board
QUOTABLE: "Before we dock, I think we ought to discuss the bonus situation.”
THREADS: Standard-issue pea green T-shirt, Nostromo crew work shirt with insignia patches, royal blue bandanna
The Running Man
(TriStar, 1987)
CHARACTER: Laughlin, a prison escapee coerced into appearing alongside Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) on popular game-show-to-the-death The Running Man
RUFFNECK BUSINESS: Breaks security guard's neck during jailbreak; as Running Man contestant, gets hacked by chain-saw and left for dead
QUOTABLE: "Don't let us die for nothing.... I don't want to be the only asshole in heaven."
THREADS: Red-and-gray nylon tracksuit