Yaphet ‘Avraham’ Kotto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaphet_Kotto

Yaphet Kotto was born in New York City.[4] His mother was Gladys Marie, an American nurse and U.S. Army officer of Panamanian and West Indian descent. His father was Avraham Kotto (who was, according to his son, originally named Njoki Manga Bell), a businessman from Cameroon who emigrated to the United States in the 1920s.[4] The couple separated when Kotto was a child, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents.[5][6] His father was raised Jewish and his mother converted to Judaism.[7][8] He was of Cameroonian royalty, as his father was the Crown Prince of the Royal Bell family of Cameroon.[9]

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https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GCQV-B7Z

Njoki Manga Bell, was the great-grandson of King Alexander Bell, who ruled the Douala region of Cameroon in the late 19th century, before the nation fell into the hands of Germany and, later, France and Britain. Fleeing the Germans, Manga Bell emigrated to Harlem in the 1920's and changed his name to Abraham Kotto (the surname is from a relative).

References

• https://aaregistry.org/story/yaphet-kotto-a-commanding-film-play-an...
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQST-7H2 : 21 January 2020), Frederick S Katto in household of Samuel Joseph, Assembly District 22, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-1945, sheet 11B, line 65, family 231, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2671.
• “Yaphet Kotto’s Royal Grand Father”
  • Prince Njoki Manga Bell, emigrated to America in the 1920’s and assumed the name of Abraham Kotto upon his arrival; he married and had issue.
    • Yaphet Kotto, born 11th October 1898, married and had issue. He died March 1965.
      • Yaphet Frederick Kotto, a movie and TV actor, born 15th November 1937 [SIC] in New York City, studied acting at the Actor’s Mobile Theater ...