David Barclay

David Alan Barclay is a British puppeteer who had worked on some projects of The Jim Henson Company. He has been at the cutting edge of animatronic puppetery since 1979. In July 1979 he was offered the position of make up assistant working for Stuart Freeborn on the second Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back. The main challenge was a state-of-the-art hand puppet named Yoda, and Barclay assisted building duplicate parts, seaming the foam latex head skins, etc, but when Wendy Midener Froud became allergic to something on the set, he was drafted in as a puppeteer. Dave performed the cable controlled facial movements for Muppet master Frank Oz, the chief puppeteer. When Oz had to return to New York City to shoot Sesame Street, as the production had ran over, Oz nominated Barclay to take over as chief puppeteer for Yoda.

Filmography

 * Snow Dogs - Demon (animatronic performer)
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - Jabba the Hutt (puppeteer)
 * The Muppet Christmas Carol - Additional Muppet Performer
 * The Muppets - Additional Muppet Performer

Television

 * Studio DC: Almost Live - Additional Muppets

Crew Work

 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - Assistant Puppeteer
 * Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Chief Puppeteer (UK version)