The Flaming Nose mourns the passing of acting great David Carradine, who was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room today, apparently by hanging. Perhaps best known for his role as Caine in the 1970's television series "Kung Fu", Mr. Carradine was also recently seen in the Quentin Tarantino movie series, "Kill Bill".David Carradine was part of an American acting dynasty that included his father John Carradine (The Grapes of Wrath) and brother Keith Carradine who has recently appeared on the Showtime series "Dexter".
Mr. Carradine was an exceptional character actor who's filmography is astonishingly long. He appeared in over 100 film and television roles in a career that spanned over 30
years. A true Renaissance artist, David Carradine was also an accomplished musician and painter. Pictured here is one of his works, featured on the David Carradine website.We may never know what demons lead to Mr. Carradine's demise. But it is safe to say he lived life to its fullest and left us with an incredibly full oeuvre of film and television memories. Goodbye "Grasshopper". May you rest in peace.
Lovely farewell to this iconic actor whose Kwai Chang Caine was one of the most special and admirable characters ever on television.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much to say about his long career, and really no time to do it on a work day morning. Thanks for putting up a video. I hope you'll write more, he was an incredible human being...so different, really way off the beaten track (a hippie, really) yet also very professional and committed to his craft. This death really makes me feel very sad.
ReplyDeleteI my contribute my little personal story about David Carradine (I think Jane has heard this before). I booked him on CBS Nightwatch nearly 25 years ago and the night before the interview he called me at home at about midnight. He was with his publicist and they were both high as a kite. They kept me on the phone for almost a half hour, giggling and saying he would probably have to cancel the interview. They were obnoxious. Being the worried little producer I was, I actually tried to convince him to go through with the interview. I finally got them off the phone and they called back a few minutes later with the same routine. For the life of me I can't remember whether he showed up the next day. I do remember never giving out my home number again (of course I would have made an exception for Brad Pitt.)
ReplyDeleteFascinating memory! Maybe it's amazing he made it this long, eh?
ReplyDelete