# RIP, Yaphet Kotto

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** celebrity-death\
**Created:** [March 16, 2021, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020 "2021-03-16T13:46:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020/21 "2021-03-18T12:35:31Z")

</div>

First saw him on Broadway in “The Great White Hope”. A long and admirable career.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020/22 "2021-03-18T14:03:49Z")

</div>

One of the great Jewish actors.

I loved him in _Homicide_ (one of the greatest cop shows every), especially because he was playing a man of Sicilian descent. It was never explained why that happened, either.

I first noted him in an episode of _Night Gallery_, “The Messiah on Mott Street” with Edward G. Robinson. I was very disappointed in his role in _Live and Let Die_, mostly because the movie was so awful (and his death scene was ludicrous). But he was absolutely great in _Homicide_

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020/23 "2021-03-21T15:46:04Z")

</div>

> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> One of the great Jewish actors.
> 
> I loved him in _Homicide_ (one of the greatest cop shows every), especially because he was playing a man of Sicilian descent. It was never explained why that happened, either.

It was explained. His father was from Baltimore’s Little Italy and his mother was from a nearby housing project. Late in the series his son is a character played by Giancarlo Esposito and there was at least one episode when some of his Italian American relatives were shown.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020/24 "2021-03-22T13:02:56Z")

</div>

Yep, the Night Gallery vignette was the first time I ever noticed him as. . . “The Messiah!” And as for his being of Sicilian descent. . . Dennis Hopper explained that rather well why that would be plausible in the movie “True Romance.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020/25 "2021-03-25T17:07:29Z")

</div>

I’m pretty much the last person on the 'Net to find something funny/nifty. Here’s [a bogus trailer for **Alien**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NHd7oC1w58&ab_channel=MashableWatercooler):

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-yaphet-kotto/938020.md?page=1)