(August 17, 1923–October 17, 2004): African American character actor of film and television who portrayed the chuckling Tee Hee, henchman to Mr. Big/Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) in Live and Let Die. Born in Philadelphia, Harris made his feature film debut in director Michael Roemer’s romantic drama Nothing but a Man (1964), joining a cast that included his future Live and Let Die castmate Kotto.
Prior to the Bond picture, Harris had been in a number of blaxploitation films of the 1970s, including Shaft’s Big Score! (1972); Super Fly (1972); and Black Caesar (1973), with another Live and Let Die cast member, Gloria Hendry. One year after Live and Let Die, Harris costarred opposite Walter Matthau and Bond veteran Robert Shaw, portraying Inspector Daniels in Joseph Sargent’s terrific thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). Harris’s additional feature film credits include King Kong (1976), Islands in the Stream (1977), Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Split Decisions (1988), and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991).
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