Captain Jack Sparrow’s visits to children in hospital have become something of Hollywood legend – and actor Johnny Depp has once again turned out to comfort youngsters going through a hard time.
Depp stopped by a children’s hospital in San Sebastián, Spain dressed as the loveable pirate – complete with the eyeliner, dreadlocks and his slightly drunken walk. According to social media posts from the hospital, the Oscar-nominee interacted with patients as they lay in hospital and posed for photographs with young fans.
“From all the staff of the Donostia University Hospital, we would like to express our infinite gratitude to Johnny Depp for his time, his support and his energy, as well as to @sansebastianfes for having facilitated this visit,” the hospital wrote on X.
While rumours of a new Pirates of the Caribbean film have long rumbled on, Depp was in Spain for the premiere of his new film, Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness, which features a chaotic 72 hours in the life of bohemian artist, Amedeo Modigliani.
The 61-year-old doesn’t appear in the film, instead assuming a behind-the-camera role, directing. However, he made sure he got an acting workout with the hospital appearance, donning Captain Jack’s trademark make-up and costume.
The first Pirates of the Caribbean film – The Curse of the Black Pearl – was released in 2003, with the series’ last movie, Dead Men Tell No Tales, hitting screens in 2017. Having grossed more than $4.5 billion around the world – making it the 16th highest-grossing film series of all time – it remains a firm favourite among children and adults.
His hospital visit in Spain was not the Depp’s first time visiting children in hospital dressed in his costume. He once described his daughter Lily-Rose’s nine-day stint in London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she received treatment for kidney failure caused by E.coli poisoning in 2007.
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Speaking to Graham Norton in 2015 about returning to the hospital to cheer up patients dressed as his Pirates of the Caribbean character, he said: “For me it’s a gift. They give me the gift. When my daughter was ill in Great Ormond Street it was the darkest period of my life.
“I’d always done these visits but after that experience the visits became more and more important. The kids are so courageous but to be able to bring a smile or a giggle to the parents means everything in the world to me.”