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"Big Hollywood star" kills himself in Bangkok


Ed Zeppelin

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back in the 70s' date=' i liked his Kung Fu serie. :rip: [/quote']

 

 

Ironically, that show was designed for Bruce Lee, but some idiots at the network decided the viewers wouldn't go for an Asian kung fu star. So they picked David Caradine and pretended he was half-Chinese. Caradine was good in it, though he never really looked very convincing.

 

Nam was on and the Hollyweird types didn't want to push it...

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Only knew him from Kill Bill.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carradine

 

So even stars commit suicide in Bangkok.

:dunno:

 

Bill is dead now

:cover: (ok ok I know where the exit is) :wave:

 

I liked Keith Carradine (related) in the Duellists a lot

:bow:

 

 

The Carradines are an old acting family. Ironic that I jokingly said "Boris Karloff", since John Carradine - the father - had acted in Boris Karloff films. Though he was a fine Shakespearean actor, as was "Karloff" (Edward Pratt), he often ended up appearing in "monster movies" in the 1930s and '40s.

 

I remember Papa John saying in an interview that the Carradines were an old New England family. They had been Loyalists in the American Revolution, and went to Canada with the "United Empire Loyalists". However, a generation or two later they moved back to the US. Not a drop of Chinese blood in that family.

 

 

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From Yahoo...

 

 

Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

AP

 

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FILE - In this Wednesday, March 10, 2004 file photo, actor David Carradine poses AP â?? FILE - In this Wednesday, March 10, 2004 file photo, actor David Carradine poses for a photo at his home â?¦

 

* 'Kung Fu' star David Carradine dies Play Video Video:'Kung Fu' star David Carradine dies AP

* Harvey gets a chance in London Play Video Movies Video:Harvey gets a chance in London AP

* Selena Gomez on Demi Lavato's Disney TV show Play Video Movies Video:Selena Gomez on Demi Lavato's Disney TV show AP

 

12 mins ago

 

BANGKOK â?? 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.

 

Carradine was a leading member of a venerable Hollywood acting family that included his father, character actor John Carradine, and brother Keith.

 

In all, he appeared in more than 100 feature films with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman and Hal Ashby. One of his prominent early film roles was as 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.

 

He 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."

 

The character, the worldly father figure of a pack of crack assassins, was a shadowy presence in 2003's "Kill Bill â?? Vol. 1." In that film, one of Bill's former assassins (Uma Thurman) begins a vengeful rampage against her old associates.

 

In "Kill Bill â?? Vol. 2," released in 2004, Thurman's character comes face to face again with Bill himself. The role brought Carradine a Golden Globe nomination as best supporting actor.

 

Bill was a complete contrast to his TV character Kwai Chang 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.

 

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 Oriental 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."

 

___

 

Associated Press writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

 

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I liked the guy , liked the Kung Fu TV series and when was one TV talk shows ,

 

like said above seems weird to kill yourself at his age and still working ,

 

Womder if we will ever know the truth, I am sure the tabloid press will be all over it with the normal Thailand sex , drugs , and .......

 

Dave

 

 

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He did have a history of heavy drug use, he was fond of LSD and other psychedelics...after awhile, the mind just stops working right.

 

But yeah, he was a brilliant actor, enjoyed his work. Not sure Bruce Lee would have been right for the role of Caine in "Kung Fu."

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