Northern Calloway

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the American actor, Northern Calloway. For the Australian cricketer, see Norman Callaway.
Northern Calloway
North Tarrytown, New York, U.S.
Resting placeFerncliff Cemetery
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active1966–1989
SpouseTerri Calloway (divorced)

Northern James Calloway (September 10, 1948 – January 9, 1990)[1] was an American actor and singer, best known for playing David on Sesame Street from 1971 to 1989. He was institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital and died less than eight months after his last appearance on the show.

Career

Theatre

Calloway graduated from

Stratford Festival, 1968) and The Three Musketeers (Stratford Festival, 1968). He played the lead in the New Federal Theater production of The Louis Armstrong Story.[1]

He became a Broadway stage actor in 1968 appearing in

Her Majesty's Theatre, London, 1973), Pippin (Leading Player, Broadway, 1976), and Whose Life Is It Anyway? (Broadway, 1980).[2][3][4] Calloway performed in six productions on Broadway
from 1968 to 1980.

Television

In 1971, he joined the cast of

Mr. Hooper's Store. He remained one of the few human characters in the series for eighteen years,[5] appearing in 1,268 episodes.[citation needed
]

Calloway appeared in several made-for-television movies and specials by the

Same Sound Brown.[6]

Legal troubles, health problems and final years on Sesame Street

On the morning of September 19, 1980, Calloway was arrested in

birdbath before fleeing the scene, where witnesses reported him wearing only a Superman T-shirt. He was arrested after hiding out in a couple's garage, screaming, "Help! I'm David from Sesame Street and they're trying to kill me!"[8][9][10]
The actor was taken to a mental hospital for examination. These events were not heavily publicized, and Calloway was allowed to continue appearing on the show as long as he sought help.

In his authorized history Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, author Michael Davis writes that Calloway's final years on the show were marked by periods of deteriorating health and ability punctuated by episodes of erratic behavior. During these years, he cites that Calloway reportedly bit music coordinator Danny Epstein during an on-set fight. Davis also states Calloway once appeared unannounced at Alison Bartlett's ("Gina" on Sesame) high school and proposed to her, despite him being 23 years her senior. Calloway's fellow cast members observed subtle clues to his erratic behavior and increasingly kept their distance. In addition, his criminal record caused him to be banned from Canada, where Follow That Bird was filmed; he is completely absent from the film.[11]

By 1987, executive producer Dulcy Singer became increasingly doubtful about Calloway's future with the show. As a result, the writers gradually ended the relationship that the character of David had with Maria, which had been in the storyline for several years (Maria soon began a romance with Luis Rodriguez (Emilio Delgado), which resulted in their marriage in May 1988). Eventually, in the spring of 1989, Calloway was dismissed from Sesame Street by Singer, following the afore­mentioned incident with music coordinator Danny Epstein.[10] His final appearance was in the 20th season finale, which aired on May 12, 1989. In the following season, it was stated that David went to live with his grandmother on a farm to take care of her, as ownership of Hooper's Store was turned over to the character of Mr. Handford, played first by Leonard Jackson and later David Smyrl.

Mental health and death

Shortly after his termination from Sesame Street, Calloway was permanently placed into a mental institution called Stony Lodge Hospital, located in

Ossining, New York. There, he received treatment for bipolar disorder.[12][13]

On the afternoon of January 9, 1990, there was a violent altercation between Calloway and a staff physician. He was then taken to

Phelps Memorial Hospital in North Tarrytown, where he was pronounced dead at the age of 41. A coroner's report listed Calloway's official cause of death as exhaustive psychosis, now more commonly called excited delirium syndrome (EDS),[13] a "controversial condition"[14]
often retrospectively assigned to those who die under restraint in custody.

Prior to his death, Calloway's marriage to Terri Calloway had ended in divorce.[2] At the time of his death, his mother Bunnetta Calloway and his brother Gregory Calloway, both of Manhattan, New York, and his sister Connie Calloway Jackson of Baltimore, Maryland, were still alive.[3] He was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery.

Discography

Albums

  • 1978: David, Daydreamin' on a Rainy Day (Sesame Street #CTW 25518)

Singles

  • 1973: "Stop (If I'm Gonna Save Any Part Of My Love For You)" b/w "Heart Of Stone" (United Artists #UA-XW311-W)
  • 1974: "Meant to Be" (United Artists #UA-XW401)
  • 1976: "My Name Is David" b/w "Subtraction Blues" (Sesame Street #CTW 99019)
  • 1978: "More of the Same" w. Linda Gache (Statler #S9000)

Filmography

Film

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1973 Together for Days Calvin

Television

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1971–1989 Sesame Street David 1,268 episodes
1971 The Secret Storm Jim Price 1 episode
1978 A Special Sesame Street Christmas David Television film
1978 Christmas Eve on Sesame Street David Television film
1983 Don't Eat the Pictures David Television film
1988 Sesame Street: Put Down the Duckie David Television film

References

  1. ^ a b c "Northern J. Calloway Dies at 41; Had Been "Sesame Street" Fixture". The Buffalo News. January 13, 1990. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Northern J. Calloway". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Northern Calloway, Actor, 41, on Stage And 'Sesame Street'". The New York Times. January 13, 1990.
  4. ^ "Stratford Festival Archives | Details". Stratford Festival. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  5. ^ "Northern Calloway". sesamestreet.org. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010.
  6. ^ Miller, Victoria (April 26, 2021). "How Did Sesame Street's Northern Calloway Die?". Heavy. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  7. ISSN 0021-5996 – via Google Books
    .
  8. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ "'Sesame Street' star says he can't remember rampage". The Afro American. October 4, 1980. p. 1. Retrieved January 13, 2015 – via Google News Archive.
  10. ^ a b Davis 2008, pp. 277–279.
  11. ^ Davis 2008.
  12. ISSN 0021-5996
    – via Google Books.
  13. ^ a b Davis 2008, pp. 295–296.
  14. ^ Wedell, Katie; Kelly, Cara (June 13, 2020). "'Excited delirium' cited as factor in many fatal police restraint cases. Some say it's bogus". USA Today. Retrieved November 8, 2020.

Further reading

External links
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