breaking news-- 'Kung Fu' star David Carradine has been found dead

-- 'Kung Fu' star David Carradine has been found dead in a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, according to his manager.
thru CNN

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Permalink Reply by Scone on June 4, 2009 at 4:10pm: Bound for Glory, Hal Ashby's biopic of Woody Guthrie

It won 2 Oscars and was nominated for 4 others including Best Picture.

Won: Best Cinematography & Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score
Nominated:Best Picture, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Costume Design & Best Film Editing

Carradine won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama and Best Actor, New York Film Critics Circle Awards.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Scone on June 4, 2009 at 4:43pm: ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by beeswax on June 4, 2009 at 5:39pm: Damn it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Continental on June 4, 2009 at 7:43pm: AN APPRECIATION
The yin-yang of David Carradine; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Evil Herbivore on June 5, 2009 at 12:57am: i just watched this the other night - an odd/ b type movie - but worth the gigles and carradine playing 4 different characters...
and it has christopher lee,roddy mc dowell and eli wallach in it as well.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Continental on June 5, 2009 at 5:11am: Circle Of Iron
I remember going to see this when I was a kid,it was kind of a big let down cause all of us kids that were Kung Fu series fanatics went looking for more of the same by Carradine, or Bruce Lee style martial arts action and got disappointed, As I remember your description is real accurate.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by spiderpig on June 5, 2009 at 5:52am: Obviously David Carradine will be missed but is there anything worse than his legacy ending by being found hanging naked in a Thai hotel room closet with a rope tied to his neck and genitals?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Real Uncle Bob on June 5, 2009 at 6:10pm: close to 20 years ago, Carradine revealed to Psychotronic magazine readers that he had flames tattooed on his penis, so I don't know how uptight he'd be about it.

I'd rather be regarded as a suicide than as a fatally careless masturbator, but that's probably just me.

Oh -- and you.

And, well...probably every other sane person on the planet.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Continental on June 5, 2009 at 6:13am: David Carradine's manager suspects foul play in actor's death
By Alan Duke
CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- David Carradine's wife and his manager disputed suggestions that the actor's death was a suicide, while rescue workers and police in Bangkok, Thailand, said the actor's neck and genitals were found bound with rope.

David Carradine was the star of the 1970s TV series, "Kung Fu," and appeared in more than 100 films.

Carradine, 72, became famous in the 1970s, when he portrayed the traveling Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the television series "Kung Fu."

Bangkok police said Carradine was found hanging by a nylon rope in a Bangkok hotel room closet Thursday morning.

A member of the emergency crew who was called to the hotel after a maid found Carradine told CNN that a yellow nylon rope was tied around the actor's neck and a black rope was around his genitals. Police later confirmed that information.

"I do not know if you want to call it accidental," Chuck Binder, Carradine's manager, told CNN's Larry King on Thursday. He said Carradine's career was on a roll.

Binder said a producer of the movie, "Stretch," which Carradine was to act in, called him from Thailand to tell him what was happening there.

"I do not want to get in the middle of this whole investigation, but this guy said to me for sure there was foul play," Binder said.

Actor Michael Madsen told King that the one thing Carradine's wife, Annie Bierman, wanted everyone to know is, "David was not suicidal."

Investigators found no sign of a forced entry into Carradine's room, Bangkok Police Lt. Colonel Pirom Chanpirom said.

An autopsy was being conducted at a Bangkok hospital, but no results would be available for another day, Chanpirom said.

Modern audiences may best know Carradine as "Bill" in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films. He earned a 2005 Golden Globe nomination for his role in the second movie in the two-part saga.

Tarantino, also appearing on "Larry King Live," called Carradine one of "Hollywood's great mad geniuses."

"He was a rock star at the time 'Kung Fu' came out," Tarantino said, holding up a vintage metal lunch box with an image from the popular show. Watch Carradine discuss "Kung Fu" role »

"I'm in shock," he said.

Career Highlights
Television
"Shane," 1966
"Kung Fu," 1972-1975
"North and South," 1985
"Kung Fu: The Legend Continues," 1992

Film
"Bound for Glory," 1976
"Kill Bill: Vol. 1," 2003
"Kill Bill: Vol. 2," 2004
Carradine's career included more than 100 feature films, two dozen television movies, and theater work, according to the Internet Movie Database.

"He was clearly an actor who followed his own path," said Leah Rozen, movie critic for People magazine. See photos of some of his notable roles »

"He was never a guy who talked a whole lot. You knew, as an actor, the characters he played, you knew they had a past, you knew there was probably some unhappiness there, but he wasn't going to talk about it."

Carradine was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as folk music legend Woody Guthrie in the 1976 movie "Bound for Glory," according to a biography on his official Web site.

He also made appearances in television series such as "Gunsmoke" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." His first starring role in a series was as the title character in "Shane" in 1966. iReport: Share memories of David Carradine

Carradine was married five times and divorced four, according to People magazine.

He was the son of John Carradine, a character actor who appeared in hundreds of films, plays and television episodes.

"David's career as an artist did not begin on the stage, though some of his early career was on and off Broadway. His earliest work was as a sculptor and painter," Carradine's official Web site says.

The site also includes an "Art Bio," in which the actor opened up about his life.

"I've always had an especially hard time with everything I've tried to do," Carradine wrote.

"I've made it pretty big as an actor in spite of being terminally shy. ... Invariably, I had huge obstacles to overcome in anything I tried. Had to work against my genes to achieve my dreams."; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Real Uncle Bob on June 5, 2009 at 6:19pm: There isn't anything to back it up. No indication of a struggle or forced entry, and the rope thing -- that's classic auto-erotic asphyxiation.
I doubt a killer would want to linger in the room long enough to fake an elaborate AEA setup

OTOH, if Carradine wasn't into that particular kink, one of his ex-wives will surely let the coppers know.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Real Uncle Bob on June 5, 2009 at 9:42pm: correcting myself...Carradine's manager, Chuck Binder, says that Carradine's hands were tied behind his back. That would contradict the AEA hypothesis.

Of course, no news source has any confirmation from the Thai police.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Continental on June 5, 2009 at 6:22am: "I do not know if you want to call it accidental," Chuck Binder, Carradine's manager, told CNN's Larry King on Thursday.
To bad, but I fear it could veer into a sorted story of worst kind.; ▶ Reply to This