David Carradine

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David Carradine

David Carradine, April 2005
Born John Arthur Carradine
December 8, 1936 (1936-12-08) (age 71)
Hollywood, California
Spouse(s) Donna Lee Becht (1960–?, divorced)
Linda Gilbert (1977–1983)
Gail Jensen (1988–1997)
Coco d'Este (1998–2001)
Annie Bierman (since 2004)
Official website

David Carradine (born December 8, 1936) is an American actor.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Carradine was born John Arthur Carradine in Hollywood, California, the son of Ardanelle Abigail (née McCool) and noted American actor John Carradine.[1] He is the brother of Bruce Carradine and half-brother of Keith and Robert Carradine, as well as the uncle of Ever Carradine. Carradine has Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, German, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and Cherokee ancestry.[2] Carradine studied drama at San Francisco State University before working as an actor on stage as well as in television and cinema.

[edit] Career

Carradine is known for his roles as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series Kung Fu (as well as the sequels in the 1980s and 1990s), 'Big' Bill Shelly in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha (1972), folksinger Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory (1976), Abel Rosenberg in Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg (1977), and as Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2003,2004).

Other notable roles include the lead in Shane (the 1966 television series based upon the 1949 novel of the same name) and a gunslinger in Taggart, a 1964 western film based on a novel by Louis L'Amour. More recently, he portrayed Tempus, a powerful demon with the ability to manipulate time, on the hit television series Charmed, as well as Conrad in the television series Alias. He currently appears as the host of Wild West Tech on the History Channel, taking over the duties from his brother Keith. Carradine has twice played a supernatural being with the power to control time: "Tempus" on Charmed and "Clockwork" on Danny Phantom.

Carradine appears in an episode of Disney's Lizzie McGuire. In this episode, an upcoming Jet Li film is auditioning boys the age of Lizzie's brother Matt for the role of the sidekick. Carradine plays an old friend of Lizzie's father, Sam McGuire, who teaches Matt a few Kung fu moves for his audition tape. When asked how he knows Carradine's character, Mr. McGuire replies cryptically, "He's like a brother to me." This is an in-joke as the actor who portrays Sam, Robert Carradine, is David Carradine's actual (half-) brother. Additionally, a large portion of the episode is spent in parody of Kung Fu, one of Carradine's most famous projects. He also had an unusual guest appearance in an episode of Medium: he played the spirit of a murdered mentally disturbed mathematician whose constant fantasies of being a hero caused him to believe he looked like David Carradine (which reflected in the appearance of his spirit). In the end of the episode, after his murderer is caught, he seems to improve and tells Allison that next time they meet he will "look more like [himself]".

Carradine has also provided his voice for the King of the Hill episode, Returning Japanese where he voiced the character of Hank's Japanese half-brother, Junichiro, who lives in Japan. He provided the voice for Lo Pei, the ancient warrior who was responsible for Shendu's petrification in the animated series: Jackie Chan Adventures.

Carradine is also known for producing and starring in several exercise videos teaching the martial arts of Tai chi and Qi Gong. Carradine actually had no knowledge of martial arts prior to starring in the series Kung Fu, but developed an interest in it after this experience and has since become an avid practitioner.

Carradine narrated the PBS anthropology series "Faces of Culture". In 2006, he became the spokesman for Yellow Book (directory), a publisher of independent telephone directories in the United States.

Carradine has also been the TV spokesperson for Nestea ("This ain't no sippin' tea"), in a memorable commercial where he pays homage not only to Kung Fu, but also to the Three Stooges.

Carradine also appears in the music video for "Minus You" by the southern California band Chapel of Thieves, which was co-directed by the YouTube personality Boh3m3.

Carradine is still widely recognized as his Kung Fu character, "Grasshopper"...a nickname to which he answers proudly.

Carradine signing autographs in Malmö, 2005
Carradine signing autographs in Malmö, 2005

[edit] Controversy

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Some minority film critics have referred to Carradine's role in Kung Fu as an example of a modern Yellowface actor,[3] as despite many long standing rumors to the contrary, Carradine is not Asian decended from any known relatives.

Carradine's role on Kung Fu (1972-1975) was originally promised and show concept (originally tentatively titled "the Warrior") was created by Jeet Kune Do creator and martial arts legend Bruce Lee. However the studio purportedly recast the part with Carradine because of their belief that a Chinese leading man would not be embraced by an early 1970s American TV audience.

The original show was to take place in China (this is when Bruce Lee was considered). The studio spin was that the producers decided they wanted the show to take place in America, so the idea was sought to have the main character be half white. This way the racist townsfolk and/or bad guys wouldn't quite know if he was Chinese or not[citation needed]. Carradine's character Kwai Chang Caine was half white (his father was American) and the studio claimed that it would have been very difficult to believe that a full blooded Chinese man would be able to walk from town to town in the American West in the 1800s[citation needed]. This is despite the fact that many of the shows centered around the bigotry that Caine faced due to being Chinese. The characters in the series obviously knew that Caine was Chinese and he was forced to use his then unknown Kung Fu skills to defend himself and others from the various antagonists and situations presented on the show.

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1964 Taggart Cal Dodge
1966 Shane Shane Television
1967 Johnny Belinda Locky Television
The Violent Ones Lucas Barnes
1972 Boxcar Bertha 'Big' Bill Shelly
1972-1975 Kung Fu Kwai Chang Caine Television
1973 Mean Streets Drunk
1975 Death Race 2000 Frankenstein
1976 Cannonball Coy 'Cannonball' Buckman
Bound for Glory Woody Guthrie
1977 The Serpent's Egg Abel Rosenberg
1978 Circle of Iron The Blind Man/Monkeyman/Death/Changsha
Gray Lady Down Capt. Gates
1979 Mr. Horn Tom Horn Television
1980 Cloud Dancer Brad Randolph
The Long Riders Cole Younger
1982 Q Detective Shepard
1983 Americana The American Soldier
Lone Wolf McQuade Rawley Wilkes
1984 The Warrior and the Sorceress Kain
1985 North and South Justin LaMotte Television
1986 Behind Enemy Lines Col.James Cooper
Kung Fu:The Movie Kwai Chang Caine Television
1990 Bird on a Wire Sorenson
1991 Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat Jozek Mardulak/Count Dracula
Karate Cop \"Dad\"
1992 Animal Instincts William Lamberti
1992 Roadside Prophets Othello
1993-1997 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Kwai Chang Caine Television
1998 An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island Cheif Wulisso
1999 Charmed Tempus Television
2001 Lizzie McGuire Himself Television
Alias Conrad Television
2002 King of the Hill Junichiro Hill Television
2003 Wild West Tech Host (Starting in 2004) Television
American Reel James Springer
Kill Bill: Vol. I Bill
2004 Kill Bill: Vol. II Bill
2005 Brothers in Arms Driscoll
Miracle at Sage Creek Ike
Danny Phantom Clockwork Television
2006 Medium Jessica's Brother Television
Final Move Captain Baker
The Last Sect Van Helsing
2007 Richard III Buckingham
Epic Movie The Curator
Fall Down Dead Wade
Permanent Vacation Old Man
Homo Erectus Mookoo
Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter Mikhail
FUEGO Lobo
Big Stan TBA
How to Rob a Bank Nick
The Trident The Shopkeeper
Treasure Raiders Pierre
Camille Cowboy Bob
2008 Chatham Captain Zeb
Last Hour Detective Mike Stone
Break The Bishop
Money to Burn Klau
Untitled David Lee Miller Project Vargas
Kandisha The American
Night of the Templar Shopkeeper
Autumn Philip

[edit] Awards

Winner:

Nominated:

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ David Carradine Biography (1936-)
  2. ^ David Carradine
    Article on Stuffmagazine.com
  3. ^ "Yellowface: Asians on White Screens", by Yayoi Lena Winfrey, IM Diversity.com
    "A Certain Slant." by Robert B. Ito, Bright Lights Film Journal.
  4. ^ Action on Film Festival | AOF Festival | Long Beach, CA

[edit] External links