David Bowie brought his unique charisma to film world, too

David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth

David Bowie, who died yesterday at the age of just 69, was one of my three favorite musical artists of all time.

In my personal pantheon, he, Prince and Michael Jackson tower above all others.

And like those two iconoclastic performers, Bowie also made forays into film acting, with mixed results.

Bowie's work as an actor understandably will never be held in the same esteem as his colossal influence as a rock star and fashion icon, but he did essay some very memorable performances, that effectively played off of his other-worldly persona.

Although Bowie was almost always unmistakably Bowie, he did show an ability to occasionally immerse himself almost totally in a role. For instance, in the underrated biopic Basquiat, he plays a totally credible Andy Warhol opposite Jeffrey Wright's performance as the doomed artist of the title. He also did a terrific late career turn as the mercurial Nicola Tesla in Christoper Nolan's mind-bender The Prestige.

Bowie in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

His presence doesn't distract in Martin Scorsese's epic Biblical film The Last Temptation of Christ either, where the director used him for stunt casting as Pontius Pilate.

Director David Lynch also utilized Bowie's stature as icon in his oddball Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Although Bowie has virtually no dialogue as the damaged FBI agent Philip Jeffries.

One of his meatier parts was in the hyper-stylized 1983 vampire film The Hunger, where his performance as a rapidly aging bloodsucker almost upstages some seriously sexy softcore scenes featuring Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon.

I need to give his performance in the war film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence another look. Meanwhile, as a hardcore Bowie fan, I know this is blasphemy, but I was never as enamored with Labyrinth as lot of other people, although I am willing to give it another chance. I think it falls under the umbrella of films you can probably only appreciate if you grew up watching them as a child.

For my money the best Bowie film performance can be found in the 1975 sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth. The extremely surreal and sexually explicit film is a trippy masterpiece from director Nicolas Roeg, who pioneered multi-layered editing in movies like Don't Look Now in the 1970s.

Bowie plays an alien who arrives on Earth for reasons that are eventually revealed to us. He's left a planet in desperate need of water and his family is literally wasting away while awaiting his return. Bowie -- through a consciously opaque narrative -- becomes a mysterious business impresario who morphs into a superstar on his new planet by introducing new technologies that capture the public's imagination.

However, the Bowie character slowly becomes addicted to the Earth-bound vices of alcohol and television, and is subjected to violent experimentation from government authorities. The ending, which I won't spoil, is devastating and surreal. And while Bowie may not have been a natural actor, he imbues the alien with the right mix of off-kilter edge and serene innocence.

It helps that Bowie was on the tail of end of a period of heavy drug use. He may never have been more gaunt and ethereal looking. But he, and the unconventional movie itself, are sensational.