David Bailie (1937-2021) South African Actor

David Bailie (1937-2021) South African Actor
David Bailie
Birth 4 Dec 1937
Springs, Chris Hani District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Death 5 Mar 2021 (aged 83)
Burial Details Unknown
South African Actor

He will be remembered for his recurring role of ‘Cotton’ the mute pirate in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series. He was schooled in Swaziland and marked his amateur debut in a stage production of “A Doctor in the House,” prior to moving with his family to Rhodesia.

He was employed as a banker and later with Central African Airlines, before focussing on a career as an actor. In 1960, he moved to London where he was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began a more than decade association with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company at Stratford Upon Avon, followed by the Royal National Theatre.

It would be with the later where he served as an understudy for Sir Laurence Olivier and would portray Florizel in the production “A Winter’s Tail” co-starring Judith Dench.

In 1961, he made his motion picture debut with a minor role in “Flame in the Streets” which was followed with “Henry VIII and His Six Wives” (1972) and the horror films “The Creeping Flesh” (1973) which starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and “Legend of the Werewolf” (1975) which starred Peter Cushing.

He played the recurring role of ‘Dask’ in the “Doctor Who” television series (1977). Bailie introduced the character ‘Cotton’ in the film “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003).

David Bailie (1937-2021) South African Actor