The Strange and Amazing Life of Yaphet Kotto

Movie Meltdown - Episode 322 This week we sit down and talk with the one and only...Yaphet Kotto. He has a fascinating place in history and a interesting role in the heyday of the New York acting scene, celebrity culture and the ever-changing Hollywood industry. Not to mention the overwhelming number of projects he's worked on over the years - it's quite a resume. So with all that to draw from, we attempt to get at least a brief synopsis of... The Strange and Amazing Life of Yaphet Kotto. And as we address the fine art of being "a strange guy", we also discuss... being a horseman, royal family ties, messing with the history, a ghost would appear, Homicide, a series of events... in a church basement, Ossie Davis, I don't have an agent, Kananga, Martin Breast, I read that I'm doing a television show, Panamanian, Harry Dean Stanton, he went to the rabbi, impersonating Marlon Brando, copying these older guys, the belly of the beast, James Earl Jones, having chemistry, Barry Levinson comes driving up, the strength of women, I'm gonna call the cops, Ridley Scott, there are big people who have their eyes on you, NAACP, getting jobs without having to audition, around New York I started getting this name, The Stage Deli, having me removed from the building, James Dean, I didn't know you knew Paul Newman, white royalty, A Raisin in the Sun, Montgomery Clift, I was mysterious for sure, The Liberation of L.B. Jones, Anthony Quinn, beam me up Scotty, even when his back was turned, James Bond, Marilyn Monroe, technological innovations, On the Waterfront, Christopher Plummer, The Actors Studio, being a rebel, the first time a white man is killed on-screen, The Dick Cavett Show, Lee Strasberg, Rebel without a Cause and the artist... is going to say something about it. "And no one knew... in my neighborhood or anywhere... that during the night, I was with superstars from Hollywood!"