R.I.P. David Carradine

David Carradine (1936-2009)


Under still mysterious circumstances, David Carradine passed away in a hotel room in Bangkok today. It's being reported that he may have hung himself, but others are reporting that it was from natural causes.

The oldest of the Carradine brothers David is a part of Hollywood royalty that stretches back to the silent film era. He carved out a name for himself though and is still best known for the lead character in the TV series Kung Fu. For film geeks he's known best as Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975) and Bill in the Kill Bill (2003-04) movies. But he had a very long and varried career. He was amazing in Bound For Glory (1976) and had some great cameos in films like Mean Streets (1973) and The Long Goodbye (1973).

For me though he will always be remembered for a quote that a friend said back in college while we were watching Carradine in Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) on TV.

"Fuckin' David Carradine. That guy saw more drugs and pussy in the 70's than we'll see in seven lifetimes."

That would look really good on a headstone.