Editing David Bowie (section)

=== 1960s and 1970s ===
Bowie's acting career predated his commercial breakthrough as a musician. His first film was a short fourteen-minute black-and-white film called ''[[The Image (1969 film)|The Image]]'', shot in September 1967. Concerning a ghostly boy who emerges from a troubled artist's painting to haunt him, Bowie later called the film "awful".{{sfn|Pegg|2016|loc=chap. 6}}{{sfn|Buckley|2005|p=49}} From December 1967 to March 1968, Bowie acted in mime Lindsay Kemp's theatrical production ''Pierrot in Turquoise'', during which he performed several songs from his self-titled debut album. The production was later adapted into the 1970 television film ''The Looking Glass Murders''.{{sfn|Pegg|2016|loc=chap. 6}} In late January 1968, Bowie filmed a walk-on role for the BBC drama series ''[[Theatre 625]]'' that aired in May.{{sfn|Trynka|2011|p=99}} He also appeared as a walk-on extra in the [[The Virgin Soldiers (film)|1969 film adaptation]] of [[Leslie Thomas]]'s 1966 [[comic novel]] ''[[The Virgin Soldiers]]''.{{sfn|Buckley|2005|p=49}}

Bowie's first major film role was in [[Nicolas Roeg]]'s ''The Man Who Fell to Earth'', in which he portrayed Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien from a dying planet.<ref>{{cite web |last=Webster |first=Andy |title=The Man Who Fell Into Movie Acting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/movies/the-man-who-fell-into-movie-acting.html |website=The New York Times |date=2 August 2013 |access-date=5 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308171125/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/movies/the-man-who-fell-into-movie-acting.html|archive-date=8 March 2021}}</ref> The actor's severe cocaine addiction at the time left him in such a fragile state of mind that he barely understood the film;<ref>{{cite web |last=McManus |first=Brian |title=Remembering David Bowie's Movie Career |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/david-bowie-actor/ |website=Vice |date=11 January 2016 |access-date=10 November 2019|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110150239/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wd7yqb/david-bowie-actor|archive-date=10 November 2019}}</ref> he later said in 1993: "My one snapshot of that film is not having to act. Just being me as I was, was perfectly adequate for the role. I wasn't of this earth at that particular time."{{sfn|Pegg|2016|loc=chap. 6}} Bowie's role was particularly singled out for praise by film critics both on release and in later decades; Pegg argues it stands as Bowie's most significant role.{{sfn|Pegg|2016|loc=chap. 6}} In 1978, Bowie had a starring role in ''[[Just a Gigolo (1978 film)|Just a Gigolo]]'', directed by [[David Hemmings]], portraying Prussian officer Paul von Przygodski, who, returning from World War I, discovers life has changed and becomes a gigolo employed by a Baroness, playing by [[Marlene Dietrich]].{{sfn|Pegg|2016|pp=660–661}} The film was a critical and commercial failure, and Bowie expressed disappointment in the finished product.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=MacKinnon|first=Angus|date=13 September 1980|title=The Future Isn't What It Used to Be|magazine=NME|pages=32–37}}</ref>