Kung Fu star Carradine found dead

[daryn]

Kung Fu star Carradine found dead


David Carradine
Carradine was best known recently for starring in Kill Bill

Kill Bill and Kung Fu star David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room, BBC correspondent Jonathan Head has reported.

The 72-year-old was in Thailand filming his latest film Stretch, according to his personal manager Chuck Binder.

Mr Binder said the news was "shocking", adding: "He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person."

More soon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8083479.stm
edit: updated text from the same url

Kill Bill and Kung Fu star David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room on Thursday.

Thai police told the BBC the 72-year-old was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.

The US star was in Thailand filming his latest film, Stretch, according to his personal manager Chuck Binder.

Mr Binder said the news was "shocking", adding: "He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person."

A US embassy official confirmed the actor's death, but added that the cause of death had not yet been established.

Mark Kermode pays tribute to David Carradine

However, Thai newspaper The Nation reported that police believe the actor took his own life, and preliminary investigations found that he hanged himself.

Carradine was part of an acting dynasty which included his father, John Carradine, and brothers Bruce, Keith and Robert.

The star was best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, which spawned sequels in the '80s and '90s.

The character became one of the most iconic roles in US TV and earned Carradine both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

While his film career saw him working with directors including Martin Scorsese and Ingmar Bergman, the cult actor was considered something of a B-movie legend.

In 2003, after years in the straight-to-video market, Carradine found a new audience thanks to his role in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill.

He was most recently seen on the big screen as a Chinese mobster in Crank: High Voltage, opposite British actor Jason Statham.

Carradine was an accomplished composer, musician, musical performer and songwriter. According to his official website, he was also a sculptor and a painter.

He is survived by his wife, Annie Bierman, and three children including actresses Calista and Kansas.

[Quags]

ahwww ,last movie i saw him in was the Rob Scneider jail flick ,was funny ..... Cain

[Bitter]

Updated | 10:58 a.m.

Thai police have told BBC News that Mr. Carradine was found on Thursday morning by a hotel maid in a wardrobe with a rope around his neck.

[capodetutticapi]

first ting come to mind when i see bangkok hotel.was heart attack and ah lil thai hoe.ah guess shane eh comin back.

[Bitter]

2 words
sexual autoasphyxiation

[zuluwarrior]

The official cause of David Carradine's death has not been determined yet, but one of his final movies may give us even more evidence that he didn't take his own life.

In My Suicide, the late actor plays a wise old man described as "the poet of death," who counsels a high schooler (Gabriel Sunday) who's contemplating killing himself.

One scene features Carradine delivering a lengthy monologue, trying to explain to the teen boy that he should "kill" off the parts of himself he doesn't like rather than committing suicide