Northern Calloway | |
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Calloway as David on Sesame Street
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Born |
Northern James Calloway January 22, 1948 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Died | January 9, 1990 Ossining, New York, U.S. |
(aged 41)
Cause of death | Cardiac arrest |
Resting place | Ferncliff Cemetery |
Other names | Northern James Calloway Northern Caloway Northern James Caloway |
Occupation | Actor, voice artist, comedian |
Years active | 1966–1989 |
Northern James Calloway (January 22, 1948 – January 9, 1990) was an American actor, voice artist, singer and comedian, best known for playing David on Sesame Street from 1971 through 1989.
On Sesame Street, his character David was studying to be a lawyer, but when Mr. Hooper died, David took over Hooper's Store. He was a favorite among the many viewers of Sesame Street during his time on the show, but his later career was increasingly hampered by a serious decline in his mental health, until he had to be dismissed from the show and later institutionalised.
On January 9, 1990, Calloway died of cardiac arrest at the age of 41, two weeks shy of his next birthday.
Calloway graduated from New York City's High School of Performing Arts in 1966, and he joined the Lincoln Center Repertory Company the same year. Stage roles he performed include:
Calloway performed in six productions on Broadway from 1968 to 1980.
In 1971, he joined the cast of Sesame Street as David, a role he would hold for eighteen years.
On the morning of September 19, 1980, Calloway was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee. He beat Mary Stagaman, marketing director of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, with an iron rod, causing serious head and rib injuries. He then fled into the suburbs of Nashville, where he smashed a plate-glass window and storm door at one house and did extensive damage to the interior of another--destroying the family's collection of fine crystal, smashing a television set and breaking light bulbs with his bare hands.