David Carradine Found Dead Kill Bill star was 72 Source: BBC News
It's with sadness that we report the death of David Carradine. The actor and kung fu star was found dead in his Bangkok hotel room earlier today.
Carradine, who was in Thailand for the shoot of his latest film Stretch, was discovered by a hotel maid after he'd failed to turn up for a cast and crew meal. US embassy officials have yet to confirm the exact cause of death, but Thai police told the BBC that Carradine has been found with cord tied around his neck and initial investigations suggest suicide.
The Hollywood-born actor made his name as shit-kicking Shaolin master Kwai Chang Caine in '70s ABC series Kung Fu. He learnt the martial art from scratch for the role and it was the beginning of a lifelong passion that he would revisit often, most notably, of course, as Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.
Carradine achieved recognition for his acting as well as martial arts chops during his 1970s heyday, turning in a stellar performance as folk singer Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound For Glory, and working with directors of the calibre of Ingmar Bergman (in 1977's The Serpent's Egg) and Martin Scorsese, who cast him as rabble-rousing train robber 'Big' Bill Shelly in Boxcar Bertha (1972).
Plum roles dried up during the 1980s and it was Tarantino who rescued Carradine from years in the straight-to-video wilderness when he cast him as The Bride's nemesis in Kill Bill. Carradine wasn't Tarantino's first choice for the role (he initially approached Warren Beatty), but he'll be remembered for a performance that twisted paternal concern into raw malevolence and created one of the big screen's great villains.
Most recently Carradine cameoed as wizened Chinese triad boss Poon Dong in Crank 2: High Voltage, and appeared in the video for the Jonas Brother's single Burnin' Up.
Looking back on a career that encompassed more than 200 screen appearances, Carradine once said, "It always seemed to me like a mission. A holy one – like the Blues Brothers."
I am a blogger on the scene in Bangkok at the hotel where Carradine died and am blogging about this on http://magickpapers.com/blog
ICON OF AN AMERICAN FILM DYNASTY
BY ANTONIO PINEDA
The announcer for the BBC breaks the story on TV. David Carradine was found dead in the Swiss Hotel on Soi Nailert. The film star was found in the closet of his room bound by curtain rope around his neck, and the inference is that his genitals were bound as well. The news ran through the Bangkok film colony l... Read More
Well I tried auto-erotic asphyxiation myself a couple of times and I wouldn't classify it as dangerous. Maybe it was the upside-down auto-erotic asphyxiation that did him in.
That variation's supposed to be rather tricky.
... Read More
Such a shame that he was on his own (as with Hutchence) if he had been with a partner it wouldn't have happened. Then maybe he'd have lived to a ripe old age,thanks for the memories David you will be missed! ... Read More
The man was a legend,just a pity people who prob never seen any of his proformances wil just remember him as the actor who hanged himself.....he was much more than tat. ... Read More
I love the TV show Kung Fu that shit was off the chain. He was made for Bill and he made Bill awsom. e lived up to the hype mostly because for those who didn't know him were like oh wow cool and those who did were like this is a fucking come back and a half. RIP Dave you'll be missed. ... Read More
He came in to our cinema for a Q&A after a double-bill of Kill Bill, slightly inebriated, walked across the foyer and just stuck his hand in some wee kid's popcorn carton. This kid was sitting there looking bewildered as big Dave just sauntered off munching his handful of popcorn and chuckling to himself! What a guy - respect due! :) ... Read More
