Yaphet Kotto Biography

Yaphet Kotto

The eternal force, the only real substance of the Universe, God, the original thinker, or in other words, the eternal joy and the force of free will which manifested the first born thought and omniscient feeling, a certain Sound which we would learn later on to be called the Word, or for some the Amen and for others still, the Aum which led to the idea of change in that which could not be changed, which meant Time for some and the idea of division in that which could not be divided, and for others it gave birth to what many if not all would refer to as Space.

The ensuing idea of the word issuing forth, the idea of rapid expansion vibrating until it exploded and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Some have decided to call this event:

The Big Bang.

It may seem to some unusual for some that these ideas spring from the mind and beliefs of Yaphet Kotto, an African American actor. Yaphet was born in New York City, the son of Gladys Marie Joseph, a nurse and army officer, and Abraham Kotto (originally named Njoki Manga Bell), a businessperson from Cameroon.

By the age of 16, he was studying acting at the Actor's Mobile Theater Studio, and at 19, he made his  acting debut in Othello. He became an observer at the Actors Studio in New York. Appeared in countless off-Broadway productions, Broadway and then replaced James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope, which brought him such attention it was almost as if he had starred in the original production.

Yaphet’s  film debut was in 1963 in an award winning film Nothing But a Man  but it might have been 1964 when he played a supporting role in the 1968 Norman Jewson’s  caper film The Thomas Crown Affair that led him to star in ‘Across 110th street with Anthony Quinn. The performance brought him to the attention of United Artist executives who thought he should be cast to star in the James Bond thriller as the lead villain ‘Mr. Big in Live and Let Die, another fine performance that not only cause Kotto be internationally known buy changed the motion picture industry’s ideas of black men as it was a first time a Black Villain had been seen on the screen in American film industry. Yaphet had already made film history when he killed a white man in the Columbia film ‘The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones” directed by William Wyler. He was single handedly changing the vision of black men on movie screens.  A decade later, change would destroy the image of the goody two shoes, good Negro  boy image created in films such as Lilies of the Fields, when Kotto played Parker in the sci-fi–horror film Alien, followed with a co starring role  with Robert Redford in the 1980 prison drama Brubaker, the black character was established. These performances opened the door of Sam Jackson, and Denzel Washington and Danny Glover. In 1983 Kotto came right back down to earth in the  sci-fi movie The Running Man and in the 1988 action-comedy Midnight Run, in which he portrayed Alonzo Mosely, an FBI agent.

As of this fate Yaphet has made more than seventy films and countless television shows the last of which was “Homicide life on the street" How does he hold it together and keep his feet on the ground. He has kept himself by meditation and Qui Gong practice, which he has practiced for the last thirty years. It was not an easy solution to the challenges of filmmaking. Kotto has always said that the easy road may not necessarily be the right road! He says that Qigong is not primarily meant for health and fitness. Although health and fitness is a bi-product of its practice. Qigong is meant to elevate your consciousness and help one to enlighten to higher truths of the universe.The fact that you have already been practicing Falun Dafa for many years is a great thing. He has thoroughly embodied its tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance; as a result, he has seen great results in both health and mind. He has of this date has millions of people all over the world who know not so much from motion pictures but from his support of India Guru Parmahansa Yogananda’s work in America and his practice of Falun Dafa. (Read more)

Actor Yaphet Kotto Alien fans have three to five months to wait for Yaphet Kotto’s Alien Diary. The book arrives after the much-hyped Prometheus a separate story that precedes the events of Alien, but which is not directly connected to the films in the Alien franchise. Prometheus is scheduled to be up and running on June 8. The Alien Diary, a Kotto representative says, it will be scheduled for release in late July or even August. A statement posted on his site this week says testing was extended after feedback from early Alien fans made it "clear that behind the scenes of Alien events were of great interests and it wouldn't be wise to hold back any longer when millions more Alien fans seekers came on to the site." The Alien Diary is supposed to offer e-book editions of “The Obamen” novels, but Kotto representative from the Characters agency in Canada said Thursday that the release date for “The Obamen had not been confirmed. Kotto for years had resisted making his work in Alien available because closeness of his experiences with UFO’s The site opens amid buzz about Kotto's plans to write a tell all novel for Alien and reveal his UFO experiences. No publication date or details were revealed but many fans were visiting his site about the news last week. In addition to of bringing the behind the scene actions for the space fantasy novel Live and Let Die will also be an online immersive experience for which Kotto has written extensive new material — more than 22,000 new words so far — about characters, places and Alien Close Encounters that took place behind the scenes while filming the James Bond adventure. So even if you didn’t see the James Bond classic Live and Let Die, which we doubt you can still enjoy the additional content with a printed book or on its own. “For me, this is a therapeutic way to rid myself of the many UFO experiences I’ve had when making birth Alien and Bond and give something back to Alien and James Bond fans that made my career such in incredible international success,” Kotto said. “I still receive a phenomenal number of letters, drawings and stories from Alien and Bond fans. This is the way for Alien and Bond to live on in a medium that created black action heroes that didn’t exist when I started working extensively in films.” He is considering publishing on his own website, Kotto adds: “I want to guarantee that people everywhere can feel the same experience I did making Alien and experiencing ca close encounter of the third kind at the same time This extremely important for Alien fans many of whom have had these very same encounters. Imagine what this would have done for a man like Barney Hill, a black man who was the first American to be abducted by Aliens. I am lucky to have the internet and face book to reach out to people who are silently suffering. My God, those experiences killed Barney! Alien was a fantastic and unique experience that God gave me now it’s time to take my time and give back what the fans gave me. There is really no other way to do this for the fans and remain in control. Not every actor could do this, but its right for an actor who was a victim of Alien UFO experiences and other abductees. This probably is an extension of what I did in helping to create the Watts Writers Workshop. Besides, it’s a lot of fun to have direct contact with my fans. It may well be a blessing in disguise.”

IMAGINE A TIME

Imagine a time much simpler, a time of quiet moments and peaceful feelings… are you seeing it yet? Now imagine if you will a time before the Tandy Model I, PC-Dos and a time even before Star Trek. Now take a deep breath and remember how dull that really was :-) So what are we getting at here?

Science Fiction and Fantasy has given the life and spirit of our imagination fuel for thought during our entire life. An imagination that is never used simply withers away but an active, well-charged imagination is where our power to have ideas and solve problems comes from. Certainly knowledge is important to ideas but without an imagination we could never think of a new way to do anything or a way to do something that hasn’t been done before.  So the blending of a little knowledge and a lot of imagination has given us computers, smart phones (some flip open, wonder where that came from?) our beloved GPS and the many gadgets, gizmos and thingies that we enjoy so much.

Some of the smartest people ever to live were day-dreamers, off somewhere in a fog… but when they had something to say… the world listened. Never underestimate the power of imagination. Imagination can inspire people to do the most incredible things. Think of the power of imagination used to make the world a better place… and then imagine that. - Frank Matlock

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."- Albert Einstein 

"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today — but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept around which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov

"The funny thing is that everything is science fiction at one time or another."
-Gene Roddenberry

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