Badja Djola
Badja Medu Djola (April 9, 1948 – January 8, 2005) born Bernard Bradley, was an American actor from Brooklyn, New York. Djola appeared in 47 films and TV shows during his career.
Badja Djola | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bernard Bradley April 9, 1948 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 8, 2005 (aged 56) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
Career
Djola's breakout role was as Leon Isaac Kennedy’s cellmate, the villainous "Half Dead" Johnson, in the 1979 movie Penitentiary, which led to many more feature films, including a supporting role in Wes Craven’s 1988 movie The Serpent and the Rainbow. Djola was best known for playing a thug who Bruce Willis's character kills after making him laugh in The Last Boy Scout and as an FBI agent in Mississippi Burning who intimidates a racist mayor played by R. Lee Ermey.
Djola's other film and TV credits include A Rage in Harlem, The Lonely Guy, NYPD Blue, Rosewood, Who's the Man?, The Hurricane, Night Shift, The Waterdance, ER, The X Files, Millennium and Roc. He also had a role in The Players Club starring Ice Cube. Djola's final performance was in Back in the Day alongside Ja Rule, Pam Grier and Frank Langella.
Death
Djola died of a heart attack on January 8, 2005, aged 56. He is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
Partial filmography
- The Main Event (1979) - Heavyweight In Gym
- Penitentiary (1979) - 'Half Dead' Johnson
- Night Shift (1982) - Cleon
- The Lonely Guy (1984) - Native
- The Lightship (1985) - Nate
- The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) - Gaston
- Mississippi Burning (1988) - Agent Monk
- An Innocent Man (1989) - John Fitzgerald
- A Rage in Harlem (1991) - 'Slim'
- The Last Boy Scout (1991) - Alley Thug
- The Waterdance (1992) - Decton
- Eddie Presley (1992) - Drycleaner (uncredited)
- Who's the Man? (1993) - Lionel Douglas
- Heaven's Prisoners (1996) - Batist
- Rosewood (1997) - John Bradley
- The Brave (1997) - Rider
- Gunshy (1998) - Abel
- The Players Club (1998) - The Doctor
- Butter (1998) - Roscoe
- Deterrence (1999) - Harvey
- The Hurricane (1999) - Mobutu
- Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel (2000) - Eddie 'Fast Eddie'
- The Price of Air (2000) - 'Sugar'
- Night at the Golden Eagle (2001) - Gabriel
- Back in the Day (2005) - Grant Brown
- Slipdream (2005) - Sahdu (final film role)