In a shocking turn of events, the moviegoing public is mourning the unexpected loss of second-generation actor David Carradine, who was reportedly found dead in his hotel room yesterday. He appears to have hanged himself.Carradine was a prolific actor, having appeared in literally hundreds of TV shows and movies over the past 45 years. He was best known as Kwai Chang Caine, a.k.a. "Grasshopper" on the hit early '70s show Kung Fu, which many point to as kicking off the American martial arts obsession of that decade.
No one would accuse Carradine of being the most discriminating in his work choices, as he was known to mix up praiseworthy appearances in films like Mean Streets and Kill Bill with decidedly lesser pictures. Amongst his massive body of work were appearances in genre films such as Dead & Breakfast (2004), Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998), Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992), Evil Toons (1992), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1990) and The Bad Seed (1985).
David Carradine was the son of John Carradine, a Universal stock player of the 1930s and 1940s who appeared in everything from The Invisible Man to The Bride of Frankenstein, and became famous for portraying Count Dracula in such films as House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula and Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.