Northern James Calloway 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 institutionalized.
On January 9, 1990, Calloway died of cardiac arrest, two weeks shy of his 42nd birthday.
“Help! I'm David of Sesame Street, and they're trying to kill me!”
While experiencing an episode of bipolar disorder. [Randy, Hilman, Sesame Street Actor Charged In Neighborhood Rampage Here, Nashville Tennessean, 1980-09-20]
Cage, who was also a patient of the Stony Lodge facility where Calloway stayed briefly, in the song "Tongue in a Shark's Mouth" (2009).
About
