Badja Djola

Badja Djola
Born	Bernard Bradley (1948-04-09)April 9, 1948 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	Resurrected original death date unknown Los Angeles, California, U.S., resurrected on October 29 2021
Occupation	Actor

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.

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)

External links

• Badja Djola at IMDb
• Badja Djola at Find a Grave