Indigenous
Australian Actor best known for his roles in films such as Walkabout, Crocodile Dundee and Rabbit-Proof FenceAs the
British film-maker Nicolas Roeg was scouring Arnhem Land, in Australia’s Northern Territory, in search of an Indigenous Australian man to star in Walkabout (1971), he chanced upon the 16-year-old ceremonial dancer David Gulpilil. When asked his name, the teenager responded with the only English word he knew: “Yes.” Looking back on the film in 2015, he said: “I thought I was going to be John Wayne.”
![David Gulpilil obituary](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cd58bddc3882182f31b534abd97c63304dc82c2f/0_228_3532_2119/master/3532.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=da1d22e9964a3a4198c915d38fba756e)
Gulpilil, who has died of
cancer aged 68, was a more amorphous and mysterious presence. As if Roeg’s fragmented, free-associative storytelling was not startling enough, Gulpilil’s performance was a shock to the system for many viewers.