Othello (1980 film) Othello (1980 film) Othello is Liz White's 1980 dramatic adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. An all black cast and crew, including budding actor Yaphet Kotto in his first role, created the film. Yaphet Kotto as Othello<br> Benjamin Ashburn as Montano<br> Olive Bowles as Emilia<br> Louis Chisholm, Jr. as Cassio<br> Audrey Dixon as Desdemona<br> Richard Dixon as Iago<br> Douglas Gray as Roderigo<br> Lincoln Pope as Duke of Venice<br> Liz White as Bianca<br> Jim Williams as Brabantio White's Othello began as an acclaimed performance in 1960-1961 at Shearer Summer Theater, White's own repository company on Martha's Vineyeard, and in 1960 in Harlem.
Othello it and reworked hints in creating the character of Othello. While supplying the source of the plot, the book offered nothing of the sense of place of Venice or Cyprus. For knowledge of this, Shakespeare may have used Gasparo Contarini's "The Commonwealth and Government of Venice", in Lewes Lewkenor's 1599 translation. The earliest mention of the play is found in a 1604 Revels Office account, which records that on "Hallamas Day, being the first of Nouembar ... the Kings Maiesties plaiers" performed "A Play in the Banketinghouse at Whit Hall Called The Moor of Venis." The work is attributed to