David Carradine Biography

Summary

"David Carradine" (born "John Arthur Carradine" on December 8, 1936 in Hollywood, California) is an American actor.

Career

Carradine is best 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 on the television series "Charmed", 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 is also known for producing and starring in several exercise videos teaching the martial arts of Tai chi and Qi Gong exercises. 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.

David Carradine also narrated the PBS anthropology series 'Faces of Culture'.

Background and family

Carradine is the son of noted American actor John Carradine. Born of Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, German, Spanish, Ukrainian, Cherokee and Italian descent, he is the brother of Bruce Carradine and half-brother of Keith and Robert Carradine. He is also the uncle of Ever Carradine.

He studied drama at San Francisco State University before working as an actor on stage as well as in television and cinema.

Controversy

Some scholars have referred to Carradine's role in "Kung Fu" as an example of a modern Yellowface actor.

Carradine's role on Kung Fu (TV series) (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 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 were Chinese or not. 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. This is despite the fact that many of the shows centered around the bigotry that Caine faced 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.

Awards

"Winner:"

2005: "Action On Film International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award" (... more)

2004: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor - "Kill Bill".

1976: National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, "Best Actor," - "Bound for Glory".

"Nominated:"

2005: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, "Kill Bill".

1986: Golden Globe Awards: Mini-series, Best Supporting Actor, "North and South".

1977: Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, "Bound for Glory".

1974: Golden Globe Awards: Television, Best Actor, Drama , "Kung Fu".

Trivia

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 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".

He has twice played a supernatural being with the power to control time: 'Tempus' on "Charmed" and 'Clockwork' on "Danny Phantom".

In 2006, he became the spokesman in the commercial for the (Yellow Book)

Provided the voice for Sharp, leader of the Westside Rollerz gang, on the video game Saint's Row.

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'.

He appeared in a Mad tv skit in where Will Sasso (Portraying Steven Seagal) snaps his neck several times, but repeatedly fails at killing Carradine as Carradine simply returns to his feet rubbing his neck, Sasso as Seagal refers to Carradine as being 'one tough hombre'.

He loves it when fans recognize him as 'Grasshopper.'

References

Carradine, David. "Endless Highway." Boston: Journey Editions, 1995.

Pilato, Herbie J. "The Kung Fu Book of Caine: The Complete Guide to TV's First Mystical Eastern Western". Boston: Charles A. Tuttle, 1993. ISBN 0-8048-1826-6