Northern James Calloway was an American actor, 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 for the rest of his life.
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 played for eighteen years.
Legal troubles, health problems and final years on ''Sesame Street''
On the morning of September 19, 1980, Calloway was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee. He had been invited to the home of Mary Stagaman, marketing director of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, after performing there on the 13th. Calloway refused to leave and beat Stagaman with a clothes iron, causing serious head and rib injuries. He then fled into the suburbs of Nashville, where he smashed a plate glasswindow 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. He also stole a backpack from a first grader, smashed a windshield with a rock, and stole a bag of herbicide from elderly resident Douglas Wright. Calloway spilled it on his body and was rolling on the ground and running around, at which point Wright attempted to hold Calloway at gunpoint and fired a warning shot at him, causing Calloway to dive to the ground and scream that he was shot. He then jumped up and washed his hands and face in the Wrights' birdbath before fleeing the scene, where witnesses reported him wearing only a SupermanT-shirt. He was arrested after hiding out in a couple's garage, screaming, "Help! I'm David from Sesame Street and they're trying to kill me!" These events were not publicized, and Calloway was allowed to continue appearing on the show as he sought help. In his authorized history Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, author Michael Davis writes that Calloway's final years on the show were marked by periods of deteriorating health and ability punctuated by episodes of erratic behavior; during these years, he cites that Calloway reportedly bit music coordinator Danny Epstein during an on-set fight. Davis also states Calloway once appeared unannounced at Alison Bartlett's high school and proposed to her, as he was 23 years Bartlett's senior, plus Calloway's fellow cast members observed subtle clues to his sometimes erratic behavior and they kept their distance. In addition, his criminal record caused him to be banned from Canada, where was filmed, hence he is completely absent in the film. By 1987, executive producer Dulcy Singer became increasingly doubtful about Calloway's future with the show. As a result, the writers gradually ended the relationship that the character of David had with Maria Figueroa, which had been in the storyline for several years. Eventually, in the spring of 1989, Calloway was dismissed from Sesame Street by Singer, following the aforementioned incident with Danny Epstein. His final appearance was in the 20th season finale, aired May 12, 1989. The following season, it was stated that David went to live with his grandmother on a farm to take care of her, as ownership of Hooper's Store was turned over to the character of Mr. Handford.
Mental health and death
Shortly after his termination from Sesame Street, Calloway was permanently placed into a mental institution called Stony Lodge Hospital, located in Westchester County, New York. There he received treatment for bipolar disorder. On the afternoon of January 9, 1990, there was a violent altercation between Calloway and a staff physician. He was then taken to Phelps Memorial Hospital in North Tarrytown, where he was pronounced dead at the age of 41. A coroner's report listed Calloway's official cause of death as exhaustive psychosis, now more commonly called excited delirium syndrome. A prior marriage to Terri Calloway ended in divorce. He was survived by his mother Bunnetta Calloway and his brother Gregory Calloway, both of Manhattan, New York, and his sister Connie Calloway Jackson of Baltimore, Maryland. Calloway was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery.
