50 years ago, David Bowie made his movie debut with a trippy sci-fi epic that broke all the rules

The Man Who Fell to Earth sounds like a Ziggy Stardust movie, but it's much stranger There are plenty of options for a pop star looking to transition into cinema. They can take a campy part in a silly movie that winks at their celebrity, as Lady Gaga did in Machete Kills; a music-centric role that shows off their day-job skills in a different context, as Gaga did in A Star Is Born and the Joker sequel;, or a character that pivots away from their pop persona and musicianship entirely, as Gaga did in House of Gucci. Beyonce has also dabbled in all three, with movies like Austin Powers in Goldmember, Cadillac Records, and Obsessed, respectively. But when David Bowie made the leap on March 18, 1976, he did something stranger for his first major film role. Bowie would eventually take the route of the musical showcase (Labyrinth) and the serious-actor pivot (The Prestige). Maybe his brief Zoolander cameo counts as the silly, winking one. But his first Hollywood film is strikingly unusual, even for an artist as singular as Bowie. The Man Who Fell to Earth casts Bowie as an alien from another world, just as some of his albums did. That’s not so unusual. The weird part is that Nicolas Roeg’

Mar 18, 2026 → Mar 18, 2026