His wandering Quai Chang character was so centered and in control of his emotions [ NBC's 'hip' 1970's western Kung Fu ]
Now he's gone, apparently by his own hand.
What a talented actor he was.

Cause of death has been 'updated' in the last five minutes, it seems.

http://movies.rediff.com/report/2009/jun/04/david-carradine-dead.htm

I grew up watching Kung Fu - I loved that show.

Rest in peace, Grasshoppah.

What a blow for his family, suicide can have an everlasting impact on those left behind. I know I'll be thinking of his family in the days to come.

As for David, I hope he has found the peace that must have eluded him.

They don't really know the cause yet, BG -or if they do, they're not willing to talk. It was first reported as a suicide by many newsrooms. Now I'm hearing retractions of that statement.

KT - Thanks, I had only learned of this when reading your original post and found the info on Wikipedia. That reported he was found in a hotel room closet by a maid. I took it to be reliable as the editors over there are quick to retract erroneous death reports; I happened to notice the posting of that missing royal from the recently lost Brazilian flight was immediately removed with a note saying only confirmed deaths were to be listed therein.

Either way, it's a tragedy for the family and entertainment community.

I was certainly saddened when I read the news of Carradines death as I also grew up watching Kung Fu,it was a favourite of mine for years.

RIP David Carradine.

I'd never heard of David before Kill Bill. But that became one of my favourite films and I thought his character (Bill) was great, so cool and confident.

RIP David Carradine

I saw the news this morning. I picked up on "Kung Fu" and "Kung Fu: the Legend Continues" years ago and they were wonderful T.V. shows. I also enjoyed watching him on "Wild West Tech" on the History Channel. He will be missed.

A little more honesty in the BBC report - sounds as though he may have accidentally killed himself!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8083479.stm

I used to watch him in "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues"...

For some reason, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this, all day long in bits and pieces.

First I watched him every week in high school [ circa 1973] as Quai Chang, a young oriental priest wandering around barefoot in the old west. Apparently people in the US still wanted westerns, but something a bit more trendy than, say, Matt Dillon and his week by week, extremely chaste relationship with heavily made up saloon owner Miss Kitty Russell. Miss Russell had hair the same colour as Ronald McDonald as I recall, and it was hard to take either her or Matt or the Cartwright brothers too seriously. Times were changing and apparently seventies viewers needed mysticism and incense along with their gun fights and horse thievery.
I loved both the old west component [having grown up watching Bonanza and Gunsmoke ] and the hip barefoot priest who always responded to brutal threats with halting speech - like Captain Kirk but without all the whirling around and sweaty intensity. Chang was humble and wise, often staring out into the horizon with a level gaze. This silence often lasted several seconds, eventually causing the outlaw to casually look off in the distance too, to see what Chang might be staring at. The longer the silence, the more profound you knew the response would be. Whatever Taoist homily he then uttered would hang in the desert air, heavy and fraught with universal meaning- ready to change the lives of anybody within hearing distance. By that time whatever cringing bully he confronted was starting to look confused and a bit embarrassed. After this manner, Chang hardly ever had to fight anybody.
Sure, the scripts were written by a small group of Chinese Presbyterians in Burbank. But their odd scripts and likable modeling of Chang provided us with the first prime time cowpoke pacifist - an icon that would be recognised for generations. I was crushed when Kung Fu got cancelled.

I also loved how sleazy Carradine could become in his apartment- janitor role of Leroy Jessup. The Bad Seed was an eighties remake of a fifties film about a little girl who was born evil. Carradine matches wits with the devil child, and you can't decide who's actually more creepy.
Somebody mentioned his host job on Wild West Tech, too - a stint I completely enjoyed and I think I've seen every episode at least twice.
As for his Kill Bill role - I never went to see the movies, having been put off mightily by the title. I don't have a clue about either of them.

Bless his troubled soul. I hope he is at rest now.

Kate, what a wonderful way of describing Kung Fu! I never missed an episode, either.

I'm always suspect when I hear of someone who 'accidently' strangles or hangs themselves. It just doesn't make sense to me.

RIP, and prayers for his family.

From an article on MSNBC today, the family is asking the FBI to look into the case as apparently a photograph of him hanging was released...

There's no excuse for this -no matter how sensational the story. Let his poor family grieve in peace. I really believe that what we used to call 'journalism' doesn't exist anymore.

apparently it was officially ruled that it was not a suicide..

Well, there was 'talk' of it being an Auto-Erotica thing...However, his hands were bound over his head, which seems like a difficult maneuver, alone.