Yaphet Kotto, Bond Villain and ‘Alien’ Star, Dies at 81

YAPHET Kotto, a versatile actor whose many roles included the wisecracking engineer in the hit science-fiction film “Alien,” the villainous adversary in the James Bond movie “Live and Let Die” and a police lieutenant on the long-running television series “Homicide: Life on the Street,” died on Monday near Manila. He was 81.

His agent, Ryan Goldhar, confirmed the death but said he did not know the cause. Mr. Kotto had lived in the Philippines for some years.

Mr. Kotto worked mostly in the theater for the first decade or so of his career. His bodily size made him a dominating figure in any sort of role, though it tended to bring him parts as a heavy. “I’m always called powerful, bulky or imposing,” he told The Baltimore Sun in 1993, when “Homicide: Life on the Street” made its debut. “Or they say I fill up a room. I’m a 200-pound, 6-foot