"Kung Fu" Star David Carradine Found Dead

[KML0224]

Looks like it was an apparent suicide at the age of 72. :'(

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_thailand_david_carradine

 

[Ultimajock]

...ABC and Warner Brothers screwed Bruce Lee by casting Carradine in Kung Fu, after Lee spent two years developing the series to begin with. Having said that, Carradine did a good job in the series...

 

[Mark Giardina]

Now there are media reports that Carradine's death may not have been a suicide. His agent told Larry King that he heard foul play was involved. Who knows if we will ever find out the real truth?

As for Bruce Lee's involvement in Kung Fu, I wasn't aware that he was supposed to be the star of that show. I thought Lee concentrated instead on his movie career.

 

[BRNout]

Now they're trying to tell us that this was an accidental suffocation. As in: he accidentally hung himself naked in the closet. Very suspicious. One wonders if we'll ever know what happened.

No matter what, it's a real loss - David Carradine was a very talented actor and will be missed.

 

[Ultimajock]

As for Bruce Lee's involvement in Kung Fu, I wasn't aware that he was supposed to be the star of that show. I thought Lee concentrated instead on his movie career.

...Lee had wanted to do what eventually became Kung Fu as early as the cancellation of The Green Hornet. He detested how martial arts were portrayed on that show, and he wanted to give viewers his concept of the real thing...

 

[radioman148]

Now they're trying to tell us that this was an accidental suffocation. As in: he accidentally hung himself naked in the closet. Very suspicious. One wonders if we'll ever know what happened.

No matter what, it's a real loss - David Carradine was a very talented actor and will be missed.

Very suspicious indeed.

 

[4dude]

Very sad

 

[searadiofreak]

Yes, agreed sad. A very good actor.

The mystery behind his death will drive this story, unfortunately.

The auto-eroticism aspects are in place, but as laid out on Larry King, his wrists were tied together behind his back, something they said would be hard to do if you were alone.

Michael Huntence of INXS was reported to have died in a similar way (auto-eroticism, cutting off blood supply to the brain, etc.)

Many probably don't care how it happened, many will. Natural curiousity, something you can't control. The fact that it happened in a foreign country will complicate the results.

 

[radioman148]

>>The fact that it happened in a foreign country will complicate the results. >>

I watched Larry King as well. The problem is getting reliable info out of a foreign country--especially this one.

 

[BlueWanderer]

I was shocked like many others have been when the news first hit. I hope what has been reported in the cause of death isn't true. If it turns out to be true then watching Kill Bill again will never be the same for me. Or Wild West Tech for that matter, which I wonder if the History Channel would still show his episodes. That's all I've seen him in, other than Death Race 2000, so I don't know anything about his show Kung Fu.

I haven't been this shocked at an actor's death since Andy Hallett of Angel (played Lorne, the green singing demon) passed away this past March due to heart problems. RIP for the both of them.

 

[LKellerIII]

I was shocked like many others have been when the news first hit. I hope what has been reported in the cause of death isn't true. If it turns out to be true then watching Kill Bill again will never be the same for me. Or Wild West Tech for that matter, which I wonder if the History Channel would still show his episodes. That's all I've seen him in, other than Death Race 2000, so I don't know anything about his show Kung Fu.

I haven't been this shocked at an actor's death since Andy Hallett of Angel (played Lorne, the green singing demon) passed away this past March due to heart problems. RIP for the both of them.

It's not always easy - but I try to keep in mind that these people are actors playing a role, and their personal lives don't really have anything to do with the roles they play.

This tendency to equate actors with the roles they play is why actors get typecast, gay actors are afraid to come out of the closet, and why soap-opera villains get spit on and yelled at when they're out in public.

It's sad that Carradine may have had a...kink...I guess is the word...that may have killed him, but it doesn't make him less of an actor - or less of a good person, for that matter.

 

[mleach]

Michael Huntence of INXS was reported to have died in a similar way (auto-eroticism, cutting off blood supply to the brain, etc.)

Same thing happened to movie star Albert Dekker way back in 1968.

 

[BlueWanderer]

It's not always easy - but I try to keep in mind that these people are actors playing a role, and their personal lives don't really have anything to do with the roles they play.

I see your point. It's just that you don't hear actors dying the same way he did very often. If he had instead passed away in his sleep or had a heart attack, I wouldn't have been so shocked. I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but it's just the way I've felt about this the last three days.

 

[Stanislav]

It's not always easy - but I try to keep in mind that these people are actors playing a role, and their personal lives don't really have anything to do with the roles they play.

I see your point. It's just that you don't hear actors dying the same way he did very often. If he had instead passed away in his sleep or had a heart attack, I wouldn't have been so shocked. I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but it's just the way I've felt about this the last three days.

I think even for those of us (like me) whose basic attitude towards the vast variety of sexual kinks is "hey, whatever melts yer Velveeta," the whole concept of erotic asphyxiation is unsettling. The notion that someone would deliberately cut off their own oxygen, with the inherent risk of brain damage or even death if not done just right, all for the sake of a sexual thrill -- well, no matter how well-adjusted and talented a person might otherwise be, that bespeaks some serious mis-wiring in the ol' grey matter.

 

[LKellerIII]

It's not always easy - but I try to keep in mind that these people are actors playing a role, and their personal lives don't really have anything to do with the roles they play.

I see your point. It's just that you don't hear actors dying the same way he did very often. If he had instead passed away in his sleep or had a heart attack, I wouldn't have been so shocked. I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but it's just the way I've felt about this the last three days.

I think even for those of us (like me) whose basic attitude towards the vast variety of sexual kinks is "hey, whatever melts yer Velveeta," the whole concept of erotic asphyxiation is unsettling. The notion that someone would deliberately cut off their own oxygen, with the inherent risk of brain damage or even death if not done just right, all for the sake of a sexual thrill -- well, no matter how well-adjusted and talented a person might otherwise be, that bespeaks some serious mis-wiring in the ol' grey matter.

Agreed. I personally don't understand why anybody would want to do anything so dangerous for a thrill - sexual or otherwise. If you need to get "high" - there are so many safer ways. I've always assumed that people who do this either have some kind of death wish or fascination with suicide that makes the idea of that act more thrilling. But I'm not a psychologist. And no need to be sorry, Blue W - you were just expressing yourself - and you're right, actually. If all this is true, it can't help but effect the way we look at Carradine when we see his films.

 

[therealjm12]

Unfortunately, the way David Carradine died will be his epitaph from this point on. Consider at Bob Crane. An extremely talented man that did a lot of great things but is remembered primarily for the kinky way he died.
As far as the gay actors in the closet..... I guess I do understand their reluctance in coming out of the closet.... David Ogden Stiers just came out. It made no difference to me. I have always enjoyed his work and always will. I could care less about his sexual life, but apparently he was concerned about getting work, especially work doing family fare with Disney etc.

 

[LKellerIII]

Unfortunately, the way David Carradine died will be his epitaph from this point on. Consider at Bob Crane. An extremely talented man that did a lot of great things but is remembered primarily for the kinky way he died.
As far as the gay actors in the closet..... I guess I do understand their reluctance in coming out of the closet.... David Ogden Stiers just came out. It made no difference to me. I have always enjoyed his work and always will. I could care less about his sexual life, but apparently he was concerned about getting work, especially work doing family fare with Disney etc.

I suspect coming out of the closet is more of a concern for younger actors who play action parts, and especially romantic leads - the concern being that the public won't find them believable kissing a woman or taking out a bad guy if they knew. I've always enjoyed Stiers work too, but he's about 20 years, 40 lbs, and 100,000 follicles past any of those kinds of roles.

 

[mleach]

I suspect coming out of the closet is more of a concern for younger actors who play action parts, and especially romantic leads - the concern being that the public won't find them believable kissing a woman or taking out a bad guy if they knew.

I think the tide is slowly changing on this. For example Neil Patrick Harris in the movie "Harold & Kumar Escape from Gauntanamo Bay". Harris of course is gay in real life but in the movie he is seen flurting with women in a wh*orehouse as well as getting sexual with a female hooker. Then again considering this was a comedy ( and an unfunny one at that sad to say ) maybe that was "the joke" ,a gay man with a female hooker.

 

[radioman148]

It's not always easy - but I try to keep in mind that these people are actors playing a role, and their personal lives don't really have anything to do with the roles they play.

I see your point. It's just that you don't hear actors dying the same way he did very often. If he had instead passed away in his sleep or had a heart attack, I wouldn't have been so shocked. I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but it's just the way I've felt about this the last three days.

I think even for those of us (like me) whose basic attitude towards the vast variety of sexual kinks is "hey, whatever melts yer Velveeta," the whole concept of erotic asphyxiation is unsettling. The notion that someone would deliberately cut off their own oxygen, with the inherent risk of brain damage or even death if not done just right, all for the sake of a sexual thrill -- well, no matter how well-adjusted and talented a person might otherwise be, that bespeaks some serious mis-wiring in the ol' grey matter.

I absolutely agree. Apparently part of the thrill must come from the danger.
In any event I can't understand why anyone in their right mind would try this.

 

[searadiofreak]

I suspect coming out of the closet is more of a concern for younger actors who play action parts, and especially romantic leads - the concern being that the public won't find them believable kissing a woman or taking out a bad guy if they knew.

I think the tide is slowly changing on this. For example Neil Patrick Harris in the movie "Harold & Kumar Escape from Gauntanamo Bay". Harris of course is gay in real life but in the movie he is seen flurting with women in a wh*orehouse as well as getting sexual with a female hooker. Then again considering this was a comedy ( and an unfunny one at that sad to say ) maybe that was "the joke" ,a gay man with a female hooker.

And Neil Patrick Harris is tonight hosting the Tony Awards. (no jokes, pleae). But, he is very well-liked in the industry right now, and that says a lot about perhaps a growing acceptance in our culture.