David Carradine

John Arthur "David" Carradine Jr. ( KARR-ə-deen; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor and director, whose career included over 200 major and minor roles in film, television and on stage. He was widely known to television audiences as the star of the series Kung Fu (1972–1975), playing Kwai Chang Caine, a peace-loving Shaolin monk traveling through the American Old West.

A member of the Carradine family of actors, he got his break playing Atahuallpa in the 1965 Broadway production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun. He became known for his B movie and martial arts roles, particularly as Big Bill Shelly in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha (1972), Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975), the titular character in Cannonball (1976), Kaz Oshay in Deathsport (1978), Detective Shepherd in Q – The Winged Serpent (1982), and Rawley Wilkes in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983). He portrayed Woody Guthrie in the biopic Bound for Glory (1976), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He also received Golden Globe nominations for Kung Fu and for the television miniseries North and South (1985), as well as an Emmy Award nomination, also for Kung Fu.

Carradine experienced a resurgence after playing the title character in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill duology (2003–2004). The role of Bill earned him his fourth Golden Globe nomination and he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. On April 1, 1997, Carradine received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Throughout his life, Carradine was arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses, which often involved substance abuse. Films that featured Carradine continued to be released after his death. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was a director and musician. Influenced by his Kung Fu role, he studied martial arts, particularly Shaolin quan. In 2014, Carradine was posthumously inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.

On June 4, 2009, he was found dead in a hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand, hanging from a rope tied around his neck and genitals. The cause of death was determined to be accidental death by autoerotic asphyxiation.