Biography

Otis Young was an American stage, film and television actor, writer, teacher, and ordained minister. At the age of 17, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served during the Korean War. After his military service, he studied acting at New York University and later at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York.

Young began his professional career in theater, appearing in off-Broadway productions and working behind the scenes as a stage manager. He made his Broadway acting debut in 1964 in James Baldwin's "Blues for Mister Charlie," alongside Diana Sands and Al Freeman Jr.. He also worked as a stage manager on Broadway productions including "In the Counting House" and "Tambourines to Glory."

Young became widely known for playing Jemal David in the ABC Western series The Outcasts (1968), opposite Don Murray. Murray and Young remained close friends after the series ended. In a later interview, Murray recalled Young as "a wonderful black actor" and discussed their work together in Call Me by My Rightful Name (1972), in which Young played Paul. Murray had hired Young for the film after Young had understudied the role on stage, giving him the opportunity to play it on screen. Following Young's death, Murray also remembered his former co-star's sense of humor and the profound change in his personality after Young's religious conversion.

One of Young's most prominent film roles came in Hal Ashby's acclaimed drama The Last Detail (1973). He played U.S. Navy Gunner's Mate First Class Richard "Mule" Mulhall, one of two sailors assigned to escort a young prisoner, played by Randy Quaid, to a naval prison. Young starred opposite Jack Nicholson, who played Signalman First Class Billy "Badass" Buddusky, Mulhall's fellow sailor. Mulhall is the more restrained and pragmatic of the two sailors, providing a contrast to Buddusky's impulsive and outspoken personality. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including a Best Actor nomination for Nicholson.

Young continued to work in film and television during the 1970s and 1980s, appearing in The Clones (1973), The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), and Blood Beach (1980), among other productions.

During the 1980s, Young increasingly devoted himself to religious work and education. He served as a pastor in Los Angeles and Rochester, New York, and taught acting, theater, speech, and communications. From 1989 to 1999, he taught speech and communications at Monroe Community College in Rochester, where he also taught theater and directed student productions. In 1992, he received a master's degree in communications from the State University of New York at Brockport.

Young wrote nine plays and continued writing during his later years, including work on an autobiography and new plays. He died of a stroke in Los Angeles on October 12, 2001. He was survived by his wife, Barbara, their four children, El Mahdi, Jemal Lucien, Lovelady and Saudia, and his mother, Gwendolyn.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous Poland

First black actor to co-star in a TV western