I loved Homicide: Life on the Streets. Near the end of that run I got a survey regarding that show. One of the questions asked whether I (respondents) thought of Yaphet Kotto as a sex symbol. Always thought that was a weird question. I was sad to the show end.

looking forward to a happy streaming weekend

episode of "High Chapparal" Mr. Kotto was in. At the time I was a student at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The series was filmed in "Old Tucson", a western movie set/theme park in the nearby Tucson Mountains.

The show runners came to the U of A campus looking for Black extras to play Buffalo Soldiers. It just so happens that on the day they came to the campus I and a friend were manning the table of the Black Students' Union on the student union building mall and we were asked if we'd be interested in being extras.

Of course we were and the rest is history. For $40 a day for two days we stood in formation in cavalry uniforms in background shots. One of us got a close-up though as he bought the commanding officer his horse. We got two meals a day, but were unimpressed as Henry Darrow, the star who played Monolito Montoya, had to have a stool bought in to mount his horse. What a whuss.