Otis Young

Young played another memorable role as Jack Nicholson's shore patrol partner Richard "Mule" Mulhall in the 1973 comedy-drama film The Last Detail, and his later film credits included the low budget horror films The Capture of Bigfoot (1979) and Blood Beach (1981).

• Name — Otis E. Young • Born — 4 July 1932 • Birthplace — Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. • Died — 12 October 2001 • Place of death — Los Angeles County, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actor

Young was born in Providence, Rhode Island, one of 14 children. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 17 and served in the Korean War. He then enrolled in acting classes at New York University School of Education where one of his classmates was the young Louis Gossett Jr.

He trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse and worked off-Broadway as an actor and writer in the early 1960s. He appeared on Broadway in James Baldwin's Blues for Mister Charlie, with such notables as Diana Sands, and Al Freeman, Jr. His first movie appearance was in Murder in Mississippi (1965). On television, Young portrayed Jemal David, a former slave, in the ABC western The Outcasts (1968-1969). and the season 5 episode "Identity Crisis" in Columbo. He studied theology at LIFE Bible College in Los Angeles and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. After, he was ordained pastor, eventually serving as senior pastor of Elim Foursquare Gospel Church in Rochester, New York from 1986 to 1988. He taught acting classes at School Without Walls, a college-like alternative public high school in Rochester, from 1987 through 1991. In 1989 he joined the faculty at Monroe Community College in Rochester; he remained there as a Professor of Communication and head of the Drama Department until his retirement in 1999.

Young suffered a stroke in Los Angeles and died on October 12, 2001, aged 69, at the Veterans Hospital. A memorial ceremony was held at Pepperdine University Chapel. He was survived by his wife, Barbara, and two sons, two daughters and mother, Gwendolyn.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1963 — East Side/West Side — Spanish Teacher — Episode: "I Before E Except After C" • 1966 — Daktari — Mtaga — Episode: "Leopard of Madla George" • Run for Your Life — Lonsy — Episode: "Tears from a Glass Eye" • 1967 — Daniel Boone — Adam — Episode: "The Wolf Man" • 1968 — The F.B.I. — Mike Watson — Episode: "Crisis Ground" • 1968–1969 — The Outcasts — Jemal David — Main role; 26 episodes • 1972 — McCloud — Episode: "The Barefoot Stewardess Caper"; uncredited • 1975 — Get Christie Love! — Jack — Episode: "Too Many Games in Town" • Columbo — Lawrence Melville — Episode: "Identity Crisis" • 1976 — Cannon — Casimir Grant — Episode: "The Reformer" • Ellery Queen — Joseph Adams Simpson — Episode: "The Adventure of the Sunday Punch" • 1980–1981 — Palmerstown, U.S.A. — Hoss Washington — 3 episodes • 1981 — Walking Tall — Noah Carver — Episode: "The Protectors of the People" • 1983 — The Mississippi — Kurland — Episode: "Joey" • 1984 — Partners in Crime — Willie — Episode: "The Set-Up" • 1985 — Hill Street Blues — Louis Jessup — Episode: "Passage to Libya"