FrameThrower · Actors · Yaphet Kotto
Yaphet Kotto
3 films · 182 frames · top-billed in 1 · 1973–1991
Born 16 November 1939 · New York City, New York, U.S.A · died 15 March 2021
Yaphet Frederick Kotto was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99) as Lieutenant Al Giardello. His films include the science-fiction and horror film Alien (1979), and the Arnold Schwarzenegger science-fiction and action film The Running Man (1987). He portrayed the main villain Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die (1973). He appeared opposite Robert De Niro in the comedy thriller Midnight Run (1988) as FBI Agent Alonzo Mosley.
How their films are shot
Measured across 182 frames from the 3 films we hold. This is the look of the work Yaphet takes, not a claim about any single frame — we index the cast of a film, never the people in a shot.
Across the 3 films we hold, 61% of their frames are night, 55% low key — the look of the work Yaphet takes.
Time of day
Lighting
Shot size
Camera angle
Mood
Films in the library
Every poster opens that film — stills, cinematography notes and colour palette.
A reference database for filmmakers
FrameThrower is a fully machine-searchable film database and visual reference library — all 182 frames from Yaphet Kotto's 3 films, and 5,000+ films besides, indexed frame by frame and readable by AI. Search it in plain language, from a reference image, or by colour; call it from an API, an MCP server or an SDK. It's the reference layer for making the next movie.