South African Actor David Bailie Dies At 83

Last Friday, March 5, actor David Bailie died at the age of 83. With more than 50 years of career in film, television, and stage, Bailie would always be remembered by Disney fans as the silent pirate Cotton from the ‘ Pirates of the Caribbean ‘ saga. He was born on December 4, 1937, in South Africa, although he grew up in present-day Zimbabwe where he began to act in amateur plays until he made acting his profession. In the 60s he moved to London and there he got his first roles in the film ‘Fire in the streets’, ‘Henry VIII and his six women’ or ‘Son of Dracula’, in addition to the series ‘Ransom for a Pretty Girl’, ‘Adam Smith’ and ‘ Doctor Who‘, where he played Dask, a human obsessed with robots and their revolution, in several episodes.

His name may not sound familiar to you, but we are sure that if you are a fan of Jack Sparrow you will remember him for having played that strange and sullen curmudgeon and tongueless pirate who never spoke and who carried a colorful parrot mounted on his left shoulder. Bad fleas and deathly silence: David Bailie embroidered his most famous character.

This actor, born in South Africa but living in London, was an artist without great media pretensions. His work was limited to secondary performances, although some of them reached great heights of popularity, such as that of the silent pirate Cotton.

In fact, her character appealed to both Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, the executive producer, that Bailie repeated in the two immediate sequels to The Curse of the Black PearlDead Man’s Chest and At World’s End.

The veteran actor also had small roles in iconic titles as the series Doctor Who, where she played Dask, whose original name was Taren Capel, a mad scientist who instigated a revolution of the machines on the planet Kaldor at the end of the century 29. Who has seen the popular science fiction saga you will understand what I mean.

Furthermore, Bailie had roles in films as Gladiator of Ridley ScottJack’s house of Lars von Trier, one of his last works; the peculiar version of Luc Besson of Joan of Arc, where immersed himself in the role of a jurist English and had very small roles in films like Son of Dracula and the classic Fire on the streets.

Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.

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