Tue, Feb 09 2010

Kill Bill star David Carradine dies at 72

Thu, Jun 04 2009 17:27 CET 4384 Views 5 Comments
Kill Bill star David Carradine dies at 72

Photo: Reuters

Kill Bill star David Carradine dies at 72

The late David Carradine demonstrates the bamboo flute he carved and played in the popular television series "Kung Fu".
Photo: Reuters

Kill Bill star David Carradine dies at 72

Tarantino's Kill Bill series proved a popular role late in Carradine's career
Photo: Reuters

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.

The local Bangkok newspaper, The Nation, cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was believed to have committed suicide and had hanged himself with a curtain cord in his suite at the Park Nai Lert Hotel.

The US star was in Thailand filming his latest film Stretch, according to his personal manager Chuck Binder. Binder described the news as "shocking and sad", adding: "He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person."

Carradine was best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, which spawned sequels in the 1980s and 1990s. The series became cult viewing. Each episode saw the slow to anger Carradine arrive in a new town only to be – reluctantly – goaded into violence by ignorant and frequently racist hillbillies.

Carradine was also known for his roles in Martin Scorcese's Boxcar Bertha (1972) and as Bill in Quentin Tarantino''s Kill Bill (Vols. 1 & 2 (2003, 2004, respectively).

More recently, he portrayed Tempus, a powerful demon with the ability to manipulate time, on the hit television series Charmed.

On December 26, 2004, he married his wife Annie, at the seaside Malibu home of his friend Michael Madsen.

Comments

Anonymous Mary Jo Tue, Jun 09 2009 01:46 CET
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This is so sad such a brilliant actor I used to love King Fu and he was brilliant a Kane

Anonymous Aries Fri, Jun 05 2009 20:45 CET
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Really sorry about "Grasshoper"
He will be missed.

Anonymous Zina Fri, Jun 05 2009 03:59 CET
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It's a bit of a sad commentary on the American popular culture. A man who played a cult role of an well composed and mindful man ends in an auto-erotic asphyxiation act gone wrong. Bless his soul.

Anonymous hexjunkie Fri, Jun 05 2009 00:29 CET
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why the genitals?

Anonymous JohnJo Thu, Jun 04 2009 22:07 CET
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This is very sad he will be missed .A great actor and star.

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