This tribute was written by Funmi Farotimi, a family friend 

Bolaji Badejo is the first Nigerian Superstar,” I said to a friend “Badewho?” was the confused response I got.

Long before the term “Nollywood” was coined to refer to the Nigerian Film Industry Bolaji Badejo acted the role of Xernomorph, the acid dripping villainous Alien in the 1979 horror classic directed by Ridley Scott.

The film is generally regarded as a sci-fi masterpiece and one of the most influential sci-fi and horror movies ever made.

Bolaji brought the creature to life,striking fear in the hearts of movie goers in the summer of 1979. The film was made on a budget of $11m and was a hit grossing over $100m world wide

I must confess like most Nigerians growing up in the ‘70s I didn’t know the Alien movie back then. 1979 was the year Aiye, a blockbuster movie by the great Hubert Ogunde, was ruling the air in Nigeria.

Alien was Bolaji’s one and only movie. After Alien he faded into cinematic memory, largely because he was never credited on screen for his role, a man who was as much a mystery as the Alien he portrayed.

Maybe if he had been given screen credit he would have been better known.

He also might have gone on to have an illustrious career in movies like Kevin Peter Hall, another black man who stood at 7’2 and was the original monster in the Sci-fic Predator franchise.

It wasn’t until 23 August 2014, that much was heard of him again in a beautiful, well researched article on the blog Strange Shapes.

Bolaji Badejo was born in Lagos, Nigeria on August 23, 1953, to Victor and Elizabeth Badejo

His father, Victor Badejo was the first indigenous Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Services.

Bolaji was in England studying graphic design when he was discovered in a London pub by Peter Ardram the Alien casting agent, who was looking for someone tall and thin to play the eponymous Alien.

The film production was having difficulties in finding the right person to cast.

They tried female models, basketball players,  and even Peter Mayhew who played the role of Chewbacca in Starwars and none fitted the Alien envisioned.

According to Strange Shapes, the film Associate producer Ivor Powell explained that the person that put on the Alien suit had to be “incredibly long-limbed, especially from the waist to the knee”.

Bolaji standing 6’10 fitted the bill perfectly.

Bolaji told Cinefantastique magazine in 1979: “As soon as I walked in Ridley Scott knew he’d found the right person”.

Scott offered him the part there and then.

Ridley told Cinefantastique that: “I said,’Do you want to be in movies?’”

Bolaji responded: “Sure”.

And with that he became Xernomorph,cinema’s most famous Alien.

According to Thomas Paige writing for CNN in 2016.    “Dripping with  menace, the Alien in Ridley Scott‘s 1979 Space horror classic was quite literally the movies    break out star”.

To prepare for the role Bolaji took tai-chi to be able to create the creatures gliding and deliberate movements and some physical training to perfect the role. He also took mime classes, learning to move according to Scott’s wishes.

“The idea was supposed to be graceful as well as vicious, requiring slow, deliberate movements”.

And by all accounts he nailed it despite working under terrible conditions.

“I could barely see what was going on around    me,” Badejo recalled in 1979. “Except when I was in a stationary position, while they were filming. Then there were a few holes. I would look through….it was terribly hot…I could only have it for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. When I took it off my head would be soaked”.

Badejo stood 7’2in in the constricted suit, walking around a 6’7inch set, several inches too low for him, covered in lubricant and largely blind playing a villain must have been hell.

Yet “ …he never complained about it,” says Adler.

At a point Bolaji was strapped into a large seesaw-like contraption that could be lifted up to about 20 feet. When it was lowered down, he began to feel dizzy as blood rushed to his head. He told the director that he will not perform the motion again and a stuntman replaced him. When the stuntman was suspended upside down he promptly fainted!

Ridley Scott pushed Bolaji’s limits.

Yet he was never given the screen credit he deserved for all his hardwork.

“Bolaji worked hard and immersed himself into the choreography lessons and performing in the film,” says Yinka (his wife) in the interview with Strange Shapes. “Even though some days were long and grueling and he had to make an early morning start, Bolaji never complained“.

Bolaji told Cinefantastique: “…There was some action I had to do pretty quick. I remember having to kick Yaphet Kotto, throw him against the wall and rush up to him. Veronica Cartwright was really terrified. After I fling Yaphet Kotto back with my tail, I turn to go after her, there’s blood in my mouth…., it wasn’t acting she was scared”.

“Believe me,” Cartwright said in 2013. “When he came after me in that scene, I didn’t have to do anything. I just looked at him,…..and you go, ‘Oh shit’.

“And instinctively what he did was just amazing. He had this incredible presence.

“And you know people say how did you make yourself scared? I didn’t do anything I just had to look at him”

“He was amazing,“ she continued.

He was so amazing that his name was left out of the screen credit?

In my opinion this is probably the worst omission in the annals of screen credits that needs to be rectified.

The film probably won an academy award for best visual effects in no small measure due to Bolaji’s performance.

In the Pantheon of cinematic monsters Bolaji will forever be remembered as the original Xernomorph and five decades later he continues to captivate audiences.

Alien fans have consistently rated the first Alien movie as the best despite six additional sequels.

  Francesco Francavilla in 2019, created an amazing tribute in memory of Bolaji Badejo for black horror icons for black history month, including him in the company of black legends such as Wesley Snipes, Laurence Fishbourne,Jada Pinket, Kevin Peter Hall etc

  Bolaji Badejo returned to Nigeria in 1980 and opened an art gallery in 1983.

He died on December 22, 1992 from sickle cell anemia. He was survived by his wife Yinka and two children.

In his own words: “The fact that I played the part of the Alien, for me, that’s good enough“.

Adieu Bolaji Badejo.