David Alan Barclay's career began in an interesting way. During the summer of 1978, he was employed at Hamleys, the well-known London toy emporium. As fate would have it, Mark Hamill happened to visit one day and commissioned Barclay to create an 18-inch marionette of Darth Vader. Hamill was so impressed with the result that he invited Barclay to visit Elstree Studios to showcase the puppet. A meeting with Stuart Freeborn followed, and just a week later, Barclay was hired to work on Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back alongside Frank Oz as a puppeteer for the character Yoda. When the time came to produce Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, Barclay brought in Toby Philpott, the son of a friend, to assist with the puppeteering of Jabba the Hutt. Barclay was responsible for controlling Jabba's right arm and jaw movements.
Barclay's resume includes involvement in several other films, such as Team America: World Police as well as Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
- Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
- Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – The Official Collector's Edition (as Dave Barclay)
- From the Pages of Star Wars Insider: Inside Jabba the Hutt on StarWars.com (backup link)
- " Inside Jabba the Hutt " — Star Wars Insider 209
- Official website
- David Barclay at the Internet Movie Database
- David Barclay at Muppet Wiki
- Interview on CG Channel (content now obsolete; archived from the original on October 19, 2008)
- Dave Barclay (Yoda) by Dennis Pellegrom on Star Wars Interviews ( August , 2013 ) (content now obsolete; archived from the original on February 5, 2023)