Dave Bald Eagle
David William Bald Eagle, also known as Chief David Beautiful Bald Eagle, was a Lakota actor, soldier, stuntman, and musician. He is perhaps best known for his appearance in the film Dances with Wolves, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Life and work
Dave Bald Eagle was born in a tipi on the west banks of Cherry Creek, on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota.Bald Eagle first enlisted in the Fourth Cavalry of the United States Army and served out his enlistment. During World War II, he re-enlisted in the 82nd Airborne Division where he fought in the Battle of Anzio, being awarded a Silver Star, and in the D-Day invasion of Normandy at which time he received a Purple Heart Medal when he was wounded.
After the Second World War, Bald Eagle worked in a number of occupations including drummer, race car driver, semi-pro baseball player, and rodeo performer before beginning a career in Hollywood films. He was the grandson of famous Lakota warrior White Bull.
Selected filmography
- Dances with Wolves as technical advisor and extra
- Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee as Old man at HQ
- Skins as Old Soldier
- Into the West episode "Wheel to the Stars" as Two Arrows
- Imprint as Medicine Man
- Rich Hall's Inventing the Indian as himself
- River of Fundament as Norman III
- Neither Wolf Nor Dog as Dan