Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

[porcy62]

Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He says Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.

The Web site of the newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room and is believed to have committed suicide.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...3.DTL&tsp=1

Edited June 4, 2009 by porcy62

[catesta]

Shit, that's too bad.

[Chalupa]

R.I.P., Grasshopper.

[7/4]

yes indeed...long goodnight grasshopper.

...

[Claude]

R.I.P.

I only discovered him a few weeks ago, with "Kill Bill 2" that I saw for the first time. Impressive performance.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Claude

[Alexander]

RIP. "Kill Bill" is one of my all time favorite films.

[Matt]

A suicide? That sucks. RIP.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, really upsetting news.

RIP and thank you, Mr. Carradine.

(I accidentally posted a new topic on this as well, sorry porcy.)

[Aggie87]

RIP David.

I always thought he would have made a great Thomas Covenant, if those books had ever been turned into movies.

[Larry Kart]

Damn. He's great in "Kill Bill."

[ValerieB]

If you read this book, it's a bit surprising that he lived as long as he did:

without reading the book, that was my first thought. very sad.

[Use3D]

Jesus what a total bummer.

[PHILLYQ]

Pure speculation here, but maybe he found out he had a terminal illness and...

In any case RIP, loved him in 'Kill Bill'

[BruceH]

No more Caine. RIP

[AndrewHill]

RIP. "Kill Bill" is one of my all time favorite films.

Ya know? A real tragedy. RIP

[Chalupa]

I'm starting to wonder if his "suicide" was some kind of weird sex act gone horribly wrong a la Michael Hutchence.

[Claude]

I'm starting to wonder if his "suicide" was some kind of weird sex act gone horribly wrong a la Michael Hutchence.

Carradine may have died from sex act: Thai police

Edited June 5, 2009 by Claude

[Head Man]

I'm starting to wonder if his "suicide" was some kind of weird sex act gone horribly wrong a la Michael Hutchence.

Carradine may have died from sex act: Thai police

"Under these circumstances we cannot be sure that he committed suicide but he may have died from masturbation," he said.

Oh my God! Something else to worry about!

[catesta]

If it's true, I say WTF?

I mean, is the traditional method so bad that at 72 you've got to experiment at the risk of losing your life? It ended up the worst way possible and now he will be the subject of jokes for years.

Nice going, Kwai Chang.

[Dan Gould]

Wikepedia has already added him to the Auto-erotic Asphyxiation page.

Personally I always figured the reward couldn't be great enough to outweigh the risk. I'll stick with the traditional method, thanks!

[T.D.]

Damn.

I never comment on reported "hangings" until some time for investigation has passed, because of the seeming frequency of autoerotic asphyxiation. I was especially wary given the Bangkok (noted destination for sex junkets) location. But WTF would you take a trip to BKK and then wank?

RIP.

[bertrand]

Why the fuck do the media need to report this fact?

They could have just said 'the death seemed to be accidental' and left it at that. The internet would have spread the word anyway. Not that we really need to know.

In general, when a 'celebrity' dies, why do some people feel they are entitled to know the cause of death? What if it is something embarrassing (as is the case here)? It just adds to the family's grief.

Bertrand.

[mellowT]

The DVD set of the entire Kung Fu series have some really nice extras

I just ordered each of the 3-season sets yesterday. It's been on my wish list a long time and now Amazon has them for 60% off.

I grew up loving that series too. Many fond memories. I'll miss him.

I had a chance to meet him once, but my dad was too pig-headed to let me. I was a teenager sleeping in until noon on a Saturday and Carradine saw my dad working on his home-built airplane in his garage in Malibu, and stopped in to say hello that morning. He didn't wake me up.

[T.D.]

Why the fuck do the media need to report this fact?

They could have just said 'the death seemed to be accidental' and left it at that. The internet would have spread the word anyway. Not that we really need to know.

In general, when a 'celebrity' dies, why do some people feel they are entitled to know the cause of death? What if it is something embarrassing (as is the case here)? It just adds to the family's grief.

It's not just celebrities. I first became aware of the a.asph. thing when I was in college, either 1976 or 77 (forget the exact year). There was a puzzling suicide reported: a really high-ranking math student hung himself in the shower. A week or two after the official (no details) announcement, the daily student newspaper (Michigan St. State News) broke a big story detailing the a.asph. explanation. It was very controversial, and met with big criticism, but the paper stuck to its guns. I'm sure the family was crushed.

Edited June 6, 2009 by T.D.

[Neal Pomea]

He did a good job playing Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory. Now, if only they had made a movie about Woody's merchant marine days, his marriage to Marjorie, his relationship with the Almanac Singers, Leadbelly, Cisco Houston, Brownie and Sonny, Jack Elliott, and his getting Huntington's Chorea! He had some interesting times. Could have called upon even more of Carradine's quirky talent.