Actor Yaphet Kotto, who starred as ship engineer Dennis Parker in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror film “Alien,” died March 14 in the Philippines. He was 81.

Kotto was born in New York to Cameroonian immigrants, who had converted to Judaism before Yaphet was born. He made his debut as a professional actor in 1960 in an all-Black stage performance of Shakespeare’s “Othello” in Harlem. He also played dictator Dr. Kananga in the 1973 James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” and received an Emmy nomination for playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the TV movie “Raid on Entebbe.” He appeared with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the thriller “The Running Man” in 1987, and later starred as Lt. Al Giardello in the NBC television series “Homicide: Life on the Street,” which aired from 1993 to 1999.