He was also celebrated in art when Craig Ruddy's portrait of him won the 2004 Archibald Prize. He was nominated for a Helpmann Award in 2004 for best male actor in a play for the production Gulpilil. Twice he received the Australian Film Institute award for best actor in a leading role, for The Tracker and Charlie's Country, and was nominated for best-supporting actor for Rabbit-Proof Fence. In 2005 he was named Northern Territory Australian of the year. Dalaithngu was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1987 and was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001. Variety described him as "an actor capable of mischievousness and gravitas, often within the same shot" and Screen International said he had crowned his career with "a mesmeric portrait". The low-budget Ten Canoes, based on a traditional tale of love and revenge, won him a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival for best actor in innovative filmmaking.
They included the 2002 movie The Tracker, which he considered his "best film," portraying the relationship between white and Indigenous men in the early 1900s, as well as Ten Canoes in 2006, which showed Aboriginal culture before white settlement, and Charlie's Country in 2013, which followed the demise of an Indigenous man. He also appeared in Baz Luhrmann's Australia in 2008 after acclaimed performances in arthouse films got his stalled career back on track. He went on to star in a string of Australian box office hits including his "favourite" Storm Boy in 1976, The Last Wave a year later, Crocodile Dundee in 1986 and Rabbit-Proof Fence in 2002. The film and Dalaithngu were smash hits, and the actor travelled the world to promote the film, meeting famous entertainers like John Lennon and Bob Marley along the way. It brought him to the notice of visiting British filmmaker Nicolas Roeg, who handed him a leading role in the 1971 movie Walkabout. It was his ability as a dancer that gave him his big break as a 16-year-old. Born at Maningrida in Arnhem Land on July 1, 1953, David Dalaithngu grew up among the Yolngu people, far from the white man's world, becoming a skilled tracker, hunter and ceremonial dancer. "One day soon he will go to the Dreamtime," said Phoebe Marson, fighting back tears.
I will still remember you, even though I am gone forever, I will still remember," said the actor, whose daughters Phoebe and MaKia accepted the award on his behalf in Canberra, revealing he had lung cancer.
While I am here, I will never forget you. "Thank you very much for watching me," the 66-year-old actor said in a 2019 video after receiving a lifetime achievement award from NAIDOC, the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.
For a man who defined Indigenous Australians in movies for half a century, it seemed fitting that Dalaithngu's last known public farewell was delivered on film. In his later years, Dalaithngu lived in Murray Bridge, South Australia. The famous Yolngu actor, from Ramingining in Arnhem Land, and a member of the Mandjalpingu clan died on Monday.