YAPHET F. KOTTO

Yaphet Kotto is a Facebook friend of mine. Yaphet is a descendant of African Jews; his father was the Crown Prince of the Cameroons who escaped to come to New York when the home country was conquered. Yaphet's name means "beautiful" in Hebrew.

In case you don't know, Yaphet is an actor who was on Homicide: Life On The Street. I consider that series the second best dramatic series ever on television, right after The Sopranos. He also appeared in the movies Midnight Run, Running Man, Alien, and Live And Let Die. Interestingly, Yaphet's character on Homicide, Lieutenant Al Giardello, was half-black and half-Italian. As a youngster, Yaphet had lived with an Italian-American family and learned a lot of Sicilian which prepared him for the role!

Between acting jobs, Yaphet and his wife operate the "Running Man Institute" in the Phillipines which is an artists' retreat to work with people from the entertainment industry to foster creativity and it centers around holistic health. There is a hardcore punk rock band named after him, which I choose not to feature because of the language.

I guess he puts the "F" in his name to distinguish himself from all the other Yaphet Kottos in the world!