Jack Thompson, who worked with David Gulpilil on Mad Dog Morgan (Philippe Mora, Australia, 1976), pays tribute to him. He says 'As a man who has learnt from his own tribe and his own tribal ways to identify with the spirits of tree and with the spirits of animal, and a man who has learnt the corroboree which is after all the literature and art of your people, that you have brought all of that magic with you every time that you've worked with me on screen and I'm sure with everyone else. David, you are a great actor. Thank you.'