While David Bowie is best known for his innovative musicality and bejewelled, spandexed alter-egos, this weekend’s Bowiefest at London’s ICA chooses to focus on the performer’s wide array of film roles...
While David Bowie is best known for his innovative musicality and bejewelled, spandexed alter-egos, this weekend’s Bowiefest at London’s ICA chooses to focus on the performer’s wide array of film roles. His is a varied repertoire, ranging from the psychedelic, mulleted villain Jareth in Labyrinth, a rebellious prisoner of war in the Cannes entry Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, to a prematurely aging vampire in the late Tony Scott’s directorial debut The Hunger. Over three days, the ICA will stage screenings of Bowie’s films, and play host to those who have been inspired to creativity by his work, including a discussion between Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller, avowed Bowie acolyte, and Alan Yentob, whose celebrated documentary, Cracked Actor, followed the performer on his drug-addled Diamond Dogs tour in 1974.
In advance of Bowiefest, which kicks off tonight, AnOther lists five lesser known snippets about one of Britain’s most legendary sartorial, film and musical stars, accompanied by a gallery of the album artwork that documents his eclectic transformations year to year.
1. Born David Robert Jones in 1947, he took the stage name of David Bowie (to rhyme with Joey) in order to avoid confusion with Davy Jones, who was gaining fame with The Monkees.
2. David Bowie’s first television appearance was an interview on the BBC when he was 17. He was protesting against discrimination as the founder of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long Haired Men, stating, “The last few years we’ve had comments like, ‘Darling, can I carry your handbag.’ I think it just has to stop now.”
3. Bowie’s first hit song in the UK was 1969’s Space Oddity, which was released five days before the Apollo 11 launch, and used to soundtrack the BBC’s coverage of the moon landings.
4. He is a rare example of making a successful crossover from music to acting, taking cult roles in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1979, Labyrinth in 1986 and as Pontius Pilate in Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. He turned down villain Max Zorin in the 1985 Bond film, A View to a Kill, and the lead role in 1991’s Hook, however, he did make a special guest appearance in SpongeBob SquarePants in 2007.
5. Bowie has suffered a number of eye injuries: a punch up at school over a girl left him with a permanently dilated left pupil, and a 2004 gig in Norway had to be paused after he was hit in the eye by a lollipop.
Bowiefest runs until September 2nd at the ICA, London.
