R.I.P. David Carradine

[fromxtor]

http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/David-Carradine-Photograph-C12037137.jpeg
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/01/sonofthedragoncarradine.jpg

Your Kung-Fu will be missed:bow:

[SoSideways]

I just read about it, linked to a story by a friend.

You will be missed!

RIP :(

[DALAZ_68]

ohh what...isnt he highlander or something?

[SoSideways]

ohh what...isnt he highlander or something?

No.

He was in Kung Fu as Caine.

Also Bill in, well, Kill Bill.

[exitspeed]

He should have never had the role in Kung Fu...

Anyway, RIP. I liked him as Bill.

[DALAZ_68]

i see no link to the story OP

[ThatGuy]

Suicide? You've got to be kidding me!

I'm torn on grief now.

I will say that he will be missed.

[ryguy]

I wonder why he did it.

When they said he was found hanged in Bangkok I imagined him living in a hostel as a recluse, before I read that he was shooting a movie and staying in a luxury hotel.

[K_style]

you will be missed.... !!!

R.I.P

[ZX88]

No!!!!!!! :(

[mrmephistopheles]

I JUST watched Death Race 2000 like 2 days ago.

Fuck. What a fucking bummer.
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2821/frankenstein.jpg

[IIIXziuR]

Yeah I just heard this on the radio.
Pretty shocking really. Very sad.

[DALAZ_68]

can someone quote a news story here...i cant do searches here at work...90% is locked out...

[Phlip]

can someone quote a news story here...i cant do searches here at work...90% is locked out...

That sucks, homie:

Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok
June 4, 2009, 9:10 AM EST

BANGKOK (AP) -- Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok. A news report said he was found hanged in his hotel room and was believed to have committed suicide.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He said the embassy was informed by Thai authorities that Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.

The Web site of the Thai newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room.

It said Carradine was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and had been staying at the hotel since Tuesday.

The newspaper said Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, and that his body was found by a hotel maid at 10 a.m. Thursday morning. The name of the movie was not immediately available.

It said a preliminary police investigation found that he had hanged himself with a cord used with the room's curtains. It cited police as saying he had been dead at least 12 hours and there was no sign that he had been assaulted.

A police officer at Bangkok's Lumpini precinct station would not confirm the identity of the dead man, but said the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park hotel had reported that a male guest killed himself there.

[fromxtor]

Taken from MTV.com...


Actor David Carradine Dead At 72
The 'Kill Bill' and 'Kung Fu' star was found in his hotel room in Thailand, where he was filming a movie.
By Eric Ditzian

David Carradine, the star of "Kill Bill" and the man behind the legendary 1970s TV series "Kung Fu," has died at age 72.

Carradine was reportedly found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand, either late Wednesday or early Thursday morning. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death to The Associated Press but would provide no further details out of respect for Carradine's family.

Citing cited unidentified police sources, the Thai English-language newspaper The Nation has reported that Carradine was found hanged in a luxury hotel room and died as a result of a suicide, though other sources say he died of natural causes.

Carradine was staying in Bangkok while filming a movie, according to Fox News. The film's crew noticed his absence when they went to out to a restaurant. A producer went to Carradine's room and discovered the actor had died.

Carradine appeared in the late '60s Western series "Shane" and went on to portray Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in "Kung Fu" from 1972-75, a role he reprised in a later TV-movie and a '90s TV series. Carradine appeared in over 100 feature films, but perhaps his most well-known recent movie was as Bill in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films. MTV News spoke with Carradine in February, and the actor talked hopefully about returning to work with Tarantino on another "Bill" installment.

"[Tarantino] planned an anime version of the life of Bill before the movie — which would have to be anime because I'm not getting any younger," Carradine said.


Here you go D

[ThatGuy]

CBS News:

Kung Fu star David Carradine has been found dead in Bangkok, the U.S. Embassy in said on Thursday.

Carradine, 72, was shooting a film in the Thai capital at the time of his death.

He was found dead in his hotel room, but an embassy spokesman refused to release details of the death.

Thai newspaper The Nation said Carradine was found hanged in his room and is believed to have committed suicide.

The U.S. actor starred in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu and in recent movies such as Kill Bill, Kill Zone, Dangerous Curves and Brothers in Arms.

Carradine first became widely known for his role in Kung Fu as Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk who travels the American West in the 1800s, seeking out his half-brother. The series ran from 1972 to 1975. Armed only with martial arts skills, his character is torn between the desire to escape notice and the need to protect others.

Carradine reprised the role in a mid-1980s movie and also was in the 1990s series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

"I thought I was going to be a stage actor, just basically doing Shakespeare. I thought my peak would be when I did Hamlet on Broadway," Carradine said in a 2007 interview.

"It wasn't until I walked off of doing Kung Fu, or while I was doing Kung Fu, that I realized doing the show I have had a bigger effect on the world than I could ever have doing Hamlet on Broadway, and I kind of abandoned that goal."

He had no knowledge of martial arts before starring in the series, but became a keen practitioner. He wrote books, David Carradine's Tai Chi Workout and The Healing Art of Chi Gung, and starred in martial arts workout videos.

After doing Kung Fu Killer in 2008, Carradine said he still enjoyed showing martial arts on the screen.

"It's kind of a vanity thing, but I revel in the fact that I can play this stuff. I'm 71 years old, and I can still do this stuff," he told gaming magazine UFO.

"I have always thought of it as a kind of dancing. You're performing choreography, by and large. All you have to do is learn the choreography and do it. You're not hurting each other. So it really is just a dance. Fred Astaire retired long before he was 71, and I'm still dancing," he said.

Lee Demarbre, the Canadian filmmaker behind Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, said Carradine's career paved the way for martial arts heroes such as Jean-Claude Van Damme.

"He was the first Caucasian to make martial arts seem real," Demarbre told CBC News. "His legacy is that he brought this ancient martial art to North America, to the rest of the world and made people see it's not just Asian. Anyone can do martial arts."

A musician and songwriter as well as an actor, Carradine appeared in more than 100 feature films in a career spanning 45 years.

He was the oldest son of character actor John Carradine. His brothers include actors Keith Carradine, Robert Carradine and Michael Bowen.

David Carradine grew up in Hollywood and was educated at San Francisco State College, where he studied music theory and composition.

He served two years in the army, then went to New York, where he appeared on Broadway in The Deputy and starred opposite Christopher Plummer in The Royal Hunt of the Sun.

He returned to Hollywood in 1966 to star in the short-lived Shane TV series and Martin Scorsese's first Hollywood film, Boxcar Bertha. He later worked with Scorsese on Mean Streets.

He also worked with Ingmar Bergman in his only English feature, The Serpent's Egg, appeared in Roger Corman's Deathrace 2000 and Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe four times, for playing Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory, for his role in the TV miniseries North and South, for Kung Fu in 1974 and for Kill Bill Vol. 2. The original 1970s Kung Fu series also received seven Emmy nominations, including a best actor nod for Carradine.

He won the People's Prize at the Cannes Film Festival's "Director's Fortnight" for his work on Americana in 1983.

Other notable movies included Bird on a Wire, The Long Riders and Grey Lady Down.

However, he also had a string of bit parts on television series and in little-known action movies.

Quentin Tarantino's stylish Kill Bill films were a return to stardom for Carradine, who plays the wily Bill that Uma Thurman aims to kill.

"Nobody is prepared for this movie. It's like nothing you've ever seen before," Carradine said ahead of the release of the first film. "People think they know Quentin, but this is something else."

Carradine was the host of Wild West Tech on the History Channel, and narrated the PBS anthropology series Faces of Culture.

He also released the albums Grasshopper and As Is, as well as singles including You and Me, Troublemaker and Walk The Floor.

Carradine was married five times and had two daughters, Calista Miranda and Kansas, both of them actresses.

[dert420sx]

does anybody else think he was masturbating? :wackit:

[VROOOM]

some of the early reports said he had a rope tied to his junk too.

[DALAZ_68]

some of the early reports said he had a rope tied to his junk too.


wtf..........!

[S14DB]

It's those damn ninja's....

[dert420sx]

some of the early reports said he had a rope tied to his junk too.

seriously?? hahahaha!1

[cxlo8331]

damn this news sucks

[highwaystar22]

I'm so confused now. At first I was wondering what had to be going through his head to do that. Now I'm just like wtf mate?! His junk???

[Matej]

BBC said he died from 'auto-erotic asphyxiation.'

[damiansyadathi]

BBC said he died from 'auto-erotic asphyxiation.'
this is true

[Antihero983]

from yahoo!

BANGKOK - Actor David Carradine, a born seeker and cult idol who broke through as the willing student called "grasshopper" in the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" and decades later as leader of an assassin squad in "Kill Bill," was found dead Thursday in Thailand. Police said he appeared to have hanged himself.


The officer responsible for investigating the death, Teerapop Luanseng, said the 72-year-old actor was staying at a suite at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel.


"I can confirm that we found his body, naked, hanging in the closet," Teerapop said. He said police suspected suicide.


A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, said the embassy was informed by Thai authorities that Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.


Carradine came from an acting family. His father, John, made a career playing creepy, eccentric characters in film and on stage. His brothers Keith, Robert and Bruce also became actors. Actress Martha Plimpton is Keith Carradine's daughter.


"My Uncle David was a brilliantly talented, fiercely intelligent and generous man. He was the nexus of our family in so many ways, and drew us together over the years and kept us connected," Plimpton said Thursday.


Carradine was in Bangkok shooting the movie "Stretch," said his manager, Chuck Binder.


"We're very saddened, he was a wonderful guy," said Lori Binder, a partner in the agency that represented Carradine.


"It is shocking to me that he is no longer with us," said Michael Madsen, who played an assassin in "Kill Bill."


"I had been thinking about calling him for the last several days. ... I have so many great memories of David that I wouldn't even know where to begin. He has a very special place in my heart."


The Web site of the Thai newspaper The Nation said Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, and that his body was found by a hotel maid Thursday morning. It said a preliminary police investigation found that he had hanged himself with a cord used with the suite's curtains. It cited police as saying there was no sign that he had been assaulted.


Police said Carradine's body was taken to a hospital for an autopsy that would be done Friday.


Carradine appeared in more than 100 feature films with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman and Hal Ashby. One of his early film roles was as folk singer Woody Guthrie in Ashby's 1976 biopic, "Bound for Glory."


But he was best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin priest traveling the 1800s American frontier West in the TV series "Kung Fu," which aired in 1972-75.


"I wasn't like a TV star in those days, I was like a rock 'n' roll star," Carradine said in an interview with Associated Press Radio in 1996. "It was a phenomenon kind of thing. ... It was very special."


Actor Rainn Wilson, star of TV's "The Office," tweeted about Carradine's death on Twitter: "R.I.P. David Carradine. You were a true hero to so many of us children of the 70s. We'll miss you, Kwai Chang Caine."


Carradine reprised the role in a mid-1980s TV movie and played Caine's grandson in the 1990s syndicated series "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues."


He returned to the top in recent years as the title character in Quentin Tarantino's two-part saga "Kill Bill." Bill, the worldly father figure of a pack of crack assassins, was a shadowy presence in 2003's "Kill Bill - Vol. 1." In that film, one of Bill's former assassins (Uma Thurman) begins a vengeful rampage against her old associates, including Bill.


In "Kill Bill - Vol. 2," released in 2004, Thurman's character catches up to Bill. The role brought Carradine a Golden Globe nomination as best supporting actor.


Bill was a complete contrast to Caine, the soft-spoken refugee from a Shaolin monastery, serenely spreading wisdom and battling bad guys in the Old West. He left after three seasons, saying the show had started to repeat itself.


"David's always been kind of a seeker of knowledge and of wisdom in his own inimitable way," his brother, actor Keith Carradine, said in a 1995 interview.


After "Kung Fu," Carradine starred in the 1975 cult flick "Death Race 2000." He starred with Liv Ullmann in Bergman's "The Serpent's Egg" in 1977 and with his brothers in the 1980 Western "The Long Riders."


But after the early 1980s, he spent two decades doing mostly low-budget films. Tarantino's films changed that.


"All I've ever needed since I more or less retired from studio films a couple of decades ago ... is just to be in one," Carradine told The Associated Press in 2004.


"There isn't anything that Anthony Hopkins or Clint Eastwood or Sean Connery or any of those old guys are doing that I couldn't do," he said. "All that was ever required was somebody with Quentin's courage to take and put me in the spotlight."


One thing remained a constant after "Kung Fu": Carradine's interest in Asian herbs, exercise and philosophy. He wrote a personal memoir called "Spirit of Shaolin" and continued to make instructional videos on tai chi and other martial arts.


In the 2004 interview, Carradine talked candidly about his past boozing and narcotics use, but said he had put all that behind him and stuck to coffee and cigarettes.


"I didn't like the way I looked, for one thing. You're kind of out of control emotionally when you drink that much. I was quicker to anger."


"You're probably witnessing the last time I will ever answer those questions," Carradine said. "Because this is a regeneration. It is a renaissance. It is the start of a new career for me.


"It's time to do nothing but look forward."



I call bullshit on the suicide.

[S14DB]

BBC said he died from 'auto-erotic asphyxiation.'

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Kung Fu star Carradine found dead (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8083479.stm)

Thai police told the BBC the 72-year-old was found naked by a hotel maid in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.

[Matej]

Looks like the news outlets have changed their stories to make it sound more decent.

[VROOOM]

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2821/frankenstein.jpg

I bet he was wearing this mask when he died.

[DALAZ_68]

for the lazy

auto-erotic asphyxiation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoerotic_asphyxiation) definition...

[VROOOM]

here goes the "junk" statement

Film star David Carradine, star of cult TV series Kung Fu and later Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series, died today in Thailand.

Thai police told the BBC the 72-year-old was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a rope around his neck and genitals on Thursday morning.

Kill Bill star David Carradine dies at 72 - Foreign - The Sofia Echo (http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/06/04/730260_kill-bill-star-david-carradine-dies-at-72)

[RiversideS13]

i honest do not think he would kill himself.

who would hang himself naked in closet?

[dert420sx]

i honest do not think he would kill himself.

who would hang himself naked in closet?


Erotic asphyxiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_asphyxiation)


scroll down to "Famous Cases"

[SoSideways]

He was in Thailand afterall... and you know what a lot of people do when they're in Thailand....

[DALAZ_68]

i honest do not think he would kill himself.

who would hang himself naked in closet?

^you read link below

for the lazy

auto-erotic asphyxiation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoerotic_asphyxiation) definition...

i honestly believe it was an accidental death of his own doing...

[mrflip69]

LOL 72 years old and still got--had it. What a way to go... couldn't afford hookers in Bangkok? :(

That probably explains the missing details out of consideration for the family.

[S14DB]

Erotic asphyxiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_asphyxiation)


scroll down to "Famous Cases"

On the "Fatalities" page the picture looks like what they are describing and they mention him.

[dert420sx]

wow that wasn't there earlier. someone must have just edited that. lol.

[dennydizzo]

He was in Thailand afterall... and you know what a lot of people do when they're in Thailand....

no what do they do eat thai food?lol...the article says that he was shooting a movie there


im pretty sure this was an accident and he didnt really want to kill himself..
he was gettin it on doin that auto asphyxiation thing cuz it says he had those empty bottles
of laughing gas next 2 him..but went too far and suffocated 2 death

[Bubbles]

I've heard about lack of oxygen to the brain but not about tying ropes to your junk.

[hegamiz]

woooooow..!

I've heard about auto-erotic asphyxiation, and related deaths, but wow...

[Bubbles]

That's gotta be a shitty way to go.

[Matej]

He probably went out feeling good.