David Carradine

Biography: A leading and supporting player of TV and movies, David Carradine is best recalled for playing Caine, the half-Asian student of life on "Kung Fu" (ABC, 1972-75), a role he reprised for a syndicated series in the late 1990s. The son of legendary actor John Carradine, he had been more recently been playing villains in action and terror films. Known for his psychedelic lifestyle, particularly in the 1960s and 70s, Carradine seemed uninterested in his career, with the exception of his starring role as folk singer Woody Guthrie in the Oscar-nominated "Bound for Glory" (1976) and a turn in Ingmar Bergman's confusing "The Serpent's Egg" (1977). Carradine had a restless youth, born in Hollywood and raised in Manhattan. He was Oakland to finish high school and afterwards drifted, sporadically attending college, working as a manual laborer and openly experimenting with drugs. He made his feature debut in a bit part in "Taggart" (1964) and scored a modest success in the Broadway production of "The Royal Hunt of the Sun". Carradine inherited Alan Ladd's role of a fading gunslinger for the small screen version of "Shane" (ABC, 1966) which failed despite other predictions. Nevertheless, the actor found constant employment in a string of forgettable films. Martin Scorsese tapped the actor to play a railroad union organizer in "Boxcar Bertha" (1972) and then cast him in a small but memorable role as a drunk who is shot while urinating in "Mean Streets" (1973). By the time the latter was released, Carradine was starring as the martial artist in "Kung Fu". Moving behind the camera, Carradine directed and starred in the little seen "You and Me" (1975). After "Bound for Glory", it appeared as if Carradine was headed for more mainstream movie stardom, but his subsequent vehicles were lacking. Only Walter Hill's 1980 Western "The Long Riders", which used the gimmick of teaming filmdom's brother acts to play brothers (i.e., the Carradines, the Quaids, the Keachs), was above-average. His second attempt in the director's chair, "Americana" (1983) also met with a less than stellar reception. Yet Carradine continued to churn out genre fare. He was the villain tracked by Chuck Norris in "Lone Wolf McQuade" (1982) and an evil German soldier in "The Misfit Brigade/Wheels of Terror" (1987). Carradine continued to earn a living in the 1990s making low-grade films with such efforts as "Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat" (1990), "Dune Warriors" (1991) and "Waxwork II" (1992). In 1997, he filmed roles in "Macon County Jail", opposite Ally Sheedy, and "The New Swiss Family Robinson" with Jane Seymour. In the early 2000s he starred in "Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2" as the main villain, Bill, in both movies. His career was enjoying a renaissance with his appearances on both televisions shows and popular commercials when he passed away at age 72. (from Hollywood.com and other sources) Carradine also provided the voice of the ghost called Clockwork on the show Danny Phantom. Submitted by Phantom992. … Expand