Kotto died on March 14 at 10:30 pm local time in the Philippines, where he lived with his wife, Goldhar said. No information was given on the cause of death.
Kotto’s work on the screen began in the late 1960s and remained stable in the 1990s. In that time, he accumulated a series of memorable roles that revealed his transformative talent.
His notable film work includes roles in “Alien”, “The Running Man”, “Midnight Run” and “Live and Let Die”, in which he played Bond’s iconic villain, Mr. Big.
On television, his oldest role was that of Lieutenant Al Giardello on the NBC program “Homicide: Life on the Street”.
“Yaphet Kotto. My mom’s favorite,” wrote director Ava DuVernay in Twitter. “He’s one of those actors who deserved more than the roles he got. But he took those roles and made them wonderful just the same. A star. Rest well, sir.”
Television producer David Simon added: “Memories and respect for Yaphet Kotto, whose film career was legend even before he came to Baltimore to decorate our television drama. But for me, he will always be Al Giardello, the most unlikely Sicilian, gently pulling the curtains from the office to the frown on detectives in his squad room. ”