A Change In Status For `Homicide' Star Kotto

BALTIMORE - Even television stars must sometimes take extra jobs to pay the bills.

Just ask Yaphet Kotto. The actor who plays the imposing Lt. Al Giardello on NBC's police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street," spent a recent break filming a cable television movie to pay off tens of thousands of dollars in telephone bills he racked up talking to his fiancee in the Philippines.

"If I was to say (the amount) people would think: This man needs a psychiatrist," said Kotto, 49, who moved to Puyallup just after filming "Alien" in 1978. Now he spends much of his time in Baltimore, where the "Homicide" set is based.

The costly calls are over. The woman who won his heart during a chance meeting in an airport moved to the United States in May after a five-year courtship conducted mostly over the phone.

In July, a judge married Kotto and Tessie Sinahon, who is 20 years younger than Kotto, at Baltimore City Hall. A Jewish wedding ceremony and reception are planned for Nov. 22.

"In our minds, we're not married yet," said Kotto, who is Jewish. "We've been married civilly, but we're not married before God."

The marriage comes as Kotto starts his sixth and possibly final season of "Homicide" in which he plays a respected squad boss whose glower can silence a roomful of detectives.

The 6-foot-4 actor is so well-known in the Baltimore area that fans who have read about his long-distance love affair have stopped him on the street to ask whether they can come to his wedding.

"People say `Is this Tessie? Is this her?' " he said, sitting next to the petite, dark-haired Sinahon.

Her arrival has re-energized him, he said. He lost 30 pounds this spring and is optimistic about expanding his career to include action movies.

"It's like being resurrected," said Kotto, who has been married twice before. "When you're waiting for someone, everything is on hold. Your life becomes monasterial."

During the show's recently ended four-month hiatus, Kotto traveled to Canada to film a Showtime movie, "The Defenders," with Beau Bridges and E.G. Marshall.

His contract with NBC expires after this season and agents are trying to line up movie work, he said. He would consider staying longer at "Homicide" if the money were right, he said.

For now, he is settling into the routine of eight- to 12-hour days in front of the camera on the "Homicide" set.

His new wife will stay busy studying computers and assisting Kotto, he said. "She says `Everywhere you go, I will go,' " he said, taking her hand and smiling.

"Homicide" fans won't be disappointed this season, Kotto said.

A leaner, more active Lt. Giardello will get a girlfriend and reveal a personal and emotional side. Kotto is also writing a "Homicide" episode about a blackmailer "who's so masterful he's broken no laws and there's nothing you can do to get him."