Our very own Valaquen has written an extremely well-researched article on his Strange Shapes blog about the life of Bolaji Badejo. For those Alien fans out there, Badejo played the xenomorph creature in Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien. He was born in Nigeria on August 23, 1953 and eventually made his way to England in the 70’s. He always had an interest in art design and studied graphic design in England. Badejo was in a London pub when he was spotted by a casting director working on Ridley Scott’s Alien. They wanted someone really tall and thin to play the part and 6’10” Bolaji Badejo was perfect for the role. Alien was the only feature film he was ever in and he more or less disappeared after its release and nobody knew what had happened to him.
Valaquen managed to track down three of his family members who revealed that Badejo relocated back to Nigeria in 1980 and within three years, he had his own art gallery. His children, Bibi and Yinka, were born in the 80’s. Sadly, Bolaji Badejo died December 22, 1992, aged 39, due to sickle cell anaemia which he had been diagnosed with as a child. His memory will live on forever though for his fantastic performance as the xenomorph. Be sure to check out Valaquen’s article in full to learn more about his life.
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but there were many more people from the original film that have yet to be found after their 35 year absence. where are they now? Have they lived a small humble life? did they succeed in other ventures, or have they fallen? these people created a masterpiece and they must be remembered more then just their name in the credits.
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Truly stellar work here, Valaquen.
Well, I think some of the crew heard the rumour and talked about it on Alien Experience. Jon Sorensen recalled the death being reported in Screen International. Some French website ran with an article about how Bolaji was constrained to hotel rooms and segregated from everyone, which depressed him, leading to suicide.
But the truth is out there now. Boyega seemed quite annoyed that the suicide rumour was taking root, so it's cool to correct it.
Now I want to find whoever started that stupid rumor about him committing suicide.
That certainly seems to have been part of it. The guy had a life to live, with his own personal dreams and ambitions.
I'm seeing a lot of people who knew him saying the same thing, commenting on his personality. It's nice.
Thank you. Bolaji deserves a Wikipedia page, at least.
Kudos on your efforts and the awesome result.
Just imagine a lot of finger-crossing, hopes dashed and fulfilled, e-mails sent, returned or lost, and a lot of cold, treacly persipration
Really great work Valaquen!
Look who got number 14 on the best villains list.