Bolaji Badejo was a Nigerian design student who portrayed the eponymous Alien in the 1979 film Alien Alien was Badejos only acting appearance As a child Badejo had been diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia Several months after his 39th birthday Bolaji fell ill and was taken to St Stephen Hospital in Ebute Metta Lagos where he died on December 22 1992 of complications from the disease While at a bar in early 1977 Bolaji Badejo was approached by Alien casting director Peter Archer who was scouting for someone suitably tall and thin to play the eponymous Alien Ivor Powell the films associate producer explained that The person that put the suit on had to be impossibly tall We wanted them to be incredibly longlimbed especially from the waist to the knee However the production had reached an impasse casting their Alien They tried various female models a family of contortionists and even Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew
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