David Carradine

Eventually, David Carradine returned to California, where he graduated from Oakland High School. He attended Oakland Junior College (now Laney College) for a year before transferring to San Francisco State College, where he studied drama and music theory,[11][13] and wrote music for the drama department's annual revues while juggling menial jobs, a fledgling stage acting career, and his studies. After he dropped out of college, Carradine spent some time with the "beatniks"[21] of San Francisco's North Beach and southern California's Venice. During this time he collected unemployment insurance and sold baby pictures. He was also prosecuted for disturbing the peace.[11]

Despite an attempt to dodge the draft,[11] in 1960 Carradine was inducted into the United States Army,[13] where he drew pictures for training aids. That Christmas he married his high school sweetheart, Donna Lee Becht. While stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia, he helped establish a theater company that became known as the "entertainment unit".[22] He met fellow inductee Larry Cohen, who later cast him in Q, The Winged Serpent.[23] He also faced court-martial for shoplifting.[24] In 1962, Donna gave birth to their daughter, Calista. Carradine was honorably discharged[25] after two years of active duty.

David Carradine (left) and Martin Milner in the Chrysler Theatre presentation "The War and Eric Kurtz" (1965)

Upon leaving the Army, Carradine became serious about acting. He was advised to change his name to avoid confusion with his famous father. In an interview from 2005 Carradine says his father encouraged him going into acting: "The first thing I ever did outside of school, which was a production of Romeo & Juliet, he came up from Hollywood to San Francisco to see it. And right after he just sort of opened up to me with all this advice. He became very proud of me."[26]

In 1963, he made his television debut on an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre, "Secret Document X256". Several other television roles followed, including appearances on Wagon Train, East Side/West Side, Arrest and Trial, The Virginian, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. In 1964 Carradine appeared as "The Utah Kid" on The Virginian in the episode "The Intruders." Carradine got a contract with Universal.[27] The studio gave him his feature film debut in Taggart (1964), a western based on a Louis L'Amour novel. It also cast him in Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965).[27]

In May 1964, Carradine joined the cast of the Broadway play The Deputy by Rolf Hochhuth, replacing Jeremy Brett.[28][29] When the play ended he was still under contract to Universal, and resumed TV work. He spent a lot of time playing, in his words, "greenhorns in Westerns and villains in thrillers".[27] Carradine guest-starred in The Trials of O'Brien in episodes that were cut together and released theatrically as Too Many Thieves (1967), and Coronet Blue.[30]

Carradine's first big break came with his second Broadway part in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, a play by Peter Shaffer about the destruction of the Inca civilization by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Carradine played Atahuallpa opposite Christopher Plummer as Pizarro.[31] The play premiered in October 1965 and was a solid hit, running for 261 performances.[32] Carradine said of this performance, "Many of the important roles that I got later on were because the guy who was going to hire me was in that audience and had his mind blown."[22] For that part, Carradine won a Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance in 1965.[33] He was also named as one of Theatre World's Promising Personalities from Broadway and Off Broadway.[34] (The play was filmed in 1968 with Plummer taking Carradine's part.)

Carradine left the production of Royal Hunt of the Sun in May 1966 to take up an offer to star in the TV series Shane, a 1966 western based upon a 1949 novel of the same name, previously filmed in 1953.[35] Carradine played the title role opposite Jill Ireland. "I know I have some kind of vision that most actors and directors don't have", he said, "so it becomes a duty to exercise that vision. It's a responsibility, a mission."[36] The show only lasted 17 episodes, despite good reviews.[35] Carradine said his career was "rescued" when he was cast in Johnny Belinda (1967).[27] He was in demand as a supporting actor, mostly in Westerns: The Violent Ones (1967), Heaven with a Gun (1969), Young Billy Young (1969) for Burt Kennedy, The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) with Kennedy, The McMasters (1970), and Macho Callahan (1970).

In 1969, he performed off-Broadway in The Transgressor Rides Again, and the next year guest-starred in The Name of the Game.[37] Carradine guest-starred opposite David McCallum in a 1971 episode of Night Gallery, "The Phantom Farmhouse". Also that year, Carradine played a hippie reprobate opposite Sally Field in the well-received television movie Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring.[38] He also guest-starred in episodes of Gunsmoke and Ironside. He was unhappy playing villains, and told his agent he wanted to stop, which led to his not working in Hollywood for a year.[39] He was cast in a musical, The Ballad of Johnny Pot, but fired two days before opening night on Broadway.[40]

In 1972, he co-starred as "Big" Bill Shelly in one of Martin Scorsese's earliest films, Boxcar Bertha, which starred Barbara Hershey, his partner at the time. This was one of several Roger Corman productions in which he appeared.[21] It was also one of a handful of acting collaborations he did with his father. He made his feature directorial debut with the film You and Me, starring alongside Hershey and his brothers Keith and Robert. It was shot in 1972, between making the Kung Fu pilot and the series, but released in 1975.[41][42]

Carradine as Caine

For three seasons, Carradine starred as the half-Chinese/half-White-American Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the ABC hit TV series Kung Fu (1972–1975). The role was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.[4] Along with Bruce Lee movies, Kung Fu helped to popularize the martial arts and Eastern philosophy in the west. Carradine's character also brought the term "grasshopper" (referring to an apprentice) into popular culture.[43]

Although the choice of a non-Asian to play the role of Kwai Chang Caine stirred controversy, the show provided steady employment for a number of Asian-American actors.[44] In addition to Keye Luke and Philip Ahn, who held leading roles in the cast as Caine's Shaolin masters, Robert Ito, James Hong, Benson Fong, Richard Loo, and Victor Sen Yung frequently appeared in the series. Kung Fu ended when Carradine quit to pursue a movie career. A second controversy was over whose idea the series had been. Bruce Lee's widow claimed he had come up with the idea of a wandering monk in the Old West, but Ed Spielman, the series' creator, insisted that the concept was his own idea from years before Lee became a star.[45] In an interview from 2005 Carradine disputed Bruce Lee's claim: "That's mythology. I think the way that story started was that they got it mixed up with The Silent Flute. Not sure how that happened."[26] In his authoritative biography Bruce Lee: A Life, Matthew Polly clarifies the issue of Bruce Lee's involvement, concluding that the claim was the result of his not being cast for the leading role, and that he had no participation in the creation of the series.[46][47]

During Kung Fu's original run, Carradine made cameo appearances in Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973) (alongside his brother Robert Carradine) and Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye. He also directed several episodes of Kung Fu, a short musical called A Country Mile (1973), and a film, Around.[11] Carradine's annual salary on the show was reportedly $100,000.[48][49]

Carradine in April 2005

Immediately after Kung Fu, Carradine accepted the role of the racecar driver Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975), he said, to "kill the image of Caine and launch a movie career."[50] The role had originally been offered to Peter Fonda, who was not available. The film, directed by Paul Bartel and produced by Roger Corman, became a cult classic for New World Pictures.[51] Carradine got 10% of the profits and made significant money from it.[52] Carradine was tapped to play Duke Leto Atreides in Alejandro Jodorowsky's aborted Dune adaptation in the late 1970s. Carradine starred in the 1975 TV movie Long Way Home and another car chase film for Bartel and New World, Cannonball! (1976). Also in 1976, he earned critical praise for his portrayal of folksinger Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory, for which he won a National Board of Review Award for Best Actor[53] and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award[4] and New York Film Critics Circle Award. Carradine worked very closely with his friend, singer-songwriter-guitarist Guthrie Thomas, on the film. Thomas assisted Carradine in the guitar style of the period and the songs that had been chosen to be in the film.[54]

Carradine made a third car chase film for Corman, Thunder and Lightning, in 1977. Next came the role of the alcoholic, unemployed trapeze artist Abel Rosenberg in The Serpent's Egg (1977). Set in post-World War I Berlin, The Serpent's Egg, which also starred Liv Ullmann, is together with The Touch one of the two only English-language films by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.[55] Carradine replaced Richard Harris, who was too ill to do it.[56] Bergman said of his leading man, "I don't believe in God, but Heaven must have sent him."[5] Carradine said that he and Bergman had plans to collaborate further, but Bergman's affection for him waned when he passionately protested a scene that included the butchering of a horse. The altercation caused Carradine to question the fate of Bergman's soul while the director declared, "Little Brother, I am an old whore. I have shot two other horses, burned one and strangled a dog."[5][11]

Back in Hollywood, Carradine co-starred with Charlton Heston in Gray Lady Down (1978) and did another film for Corman, Deathsport (1978), an unofficial sequel to Death Race 2000.[57][58] When Bruce Lee died in 1973, he left an unreleased movie script he had developed with James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant, The Silent Flute. The script became Circle of Iron (1978), and in the film, Carradine played the four roles originally intended for Lee. Carradine considered this among his best work.[59][60] Carradine made Mr. Horn (1979) for TV, playing Tom Horn based on a script by William Goldman.[61] After doing a fifth Corman action film, Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider (1979), directed by Steve Carver, Carradine played Paul Gauguin for TV in Gauguin the Savage (1980).[62]

In The Long Riders (1980), Carradine starred with his half-brothers Keith and Robert Carradine as the Younger Brothers. The ensemble cast included three other brother/actor groupings: Stacy and James Keach; Dennis and Randy Quaid,[13] and Christopher and Nicholas Guest. The movie, which was about the Jesse James gang, gave Carradine, who played Cole Younger, one of his most memorable roles. Walter Hill directed.[63] Carradine played a pilot in Cloud Dancer (1980) and was the villain in High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane (1980). He did a car chase film in Africa, Safari 3000 (1980).

Carradine signing autographs in Malmö, Sweden in May 2005

Carradine returned to the director's chair with Americana (1981) (which was actually the completion of the earlier movie Around), which he also starred in, produced and edited. The film took ten years to complete due to difficulty in financing. It featured several of his friends and family members in supporting roles. It won the People's Choice Award at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, but failed to achieve critical support or adequate distribution.[11][64] He also directed the unreleased Mata Hari, an epic that starred his daughter, Calista.

Carradine guest-starred on an episode of Darkroom and starred in Larry Cohen's Q (1982). He made a cameo in Trick or Treats (1982) and was the villain in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) with Chuck Norris. Carradine returned to guest-starring on regular TV series like The Fall Guy, Airwolf, Fox Mystery Theater and Partners in Crime. He starred in TV movies like Jealousy (1984) and The Bad Seed (1985), and was still in demand as the star of cheaper action films such as The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984) and On the Line (1984).

Carradine attracted notice in 1985 when he appeared in a major supporting role in North and South, a miniseries about the American Civil War, as the evil and abusive Justin LaMotte. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.[4]

Carradine reprised his role as Caine in Kung Fu: The Movie (1986) for TV, which he also produced. It was the acting debut of Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee. He starred in the low-budget action film Behind Enemy Lines (1986) and reprised his role as LaMotte in North and South, Book II, telecast in May 1986.

Carradine continued to be in demand for action films, either aimed at the video market or for TV: Oceans of Fire (1986), Armed Response (1986) for Fred Olen Ray, The Misfit Brigade (1987), and Six Against the Rock (1987) as Bernie Coy. Carradine also guest starred on Amazing Stories and Night Heat and he was in I Saw What You Did (1988), Run for Your Life (1988), Warlords (1988) (again for Ray), Tropical Snow (1989), and The Cover Girl and the Cop (1989). He received some good reviews for Sonny Boy (1989), on which he sang on the soundtrack. He starred in three films for Corman: Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989), directed by Charles B. Griffith; Nowhere to Run (1989), directed by Carl Franklin; and Crime Zone (1990) directed by Luis Llosa; Carradine co produced the latter. He was also in Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), directed by Anthony Hickox; Try This One for Size (1989), Open Fire (1989), and Future Force (1989), which he helped produce.

In 1989 he starred in the low-budget direct-to-video Swedish action movie The Mad Bunch directed by Mats Helge Olsson, making him one of three actors (including Heinz Hopf and Tor Isedal) who have starred in both an Ingmar Bergman movie and an Olsson movie.[65] He followed it with Night Children (1989), Crime of Crimes (1989) (which he produced), Animal Protector (1989), Dune Warriors (1990), Martial Law (1990) and The Trace of Lynx (1990). Carradine made his first studio film in a long time with Bird on a Wire (1990) and he guest starred on shows like Matlock, The Young Riders, and The Ray Bradbury Theatre. However he predominantly worked as the star of straight to video action films: Future Zone (1990), a sequel to Future Force, Fatal Secret (1990), Midnight Fear (1991), Project Eliminator (1991) (which he helped produce), Deadly Surveillance (1991), and Brotherhood of the Gun (1991).

Carradine had support roles in The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) and could be seen in Capital Punishment (1991) and Karate Cop (1991). Carradine was in Battle Gear (1991) and Evil Toons (1992) for Ray, and had support parts in Double Trouble (1992), Roadside Prophets (1992), Night Rhythms (1992), Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992), and Distant Justice (1992). In a 2005 interview, Carradine talks about how there was a period where he was working as much as he could. Psychotronic Magazine gave him an award for the "Most Working Actor in the Universe". "Because I did nineteen movies in eighteen months. And they actually missed a couple!" Carradine thought it could not last. "That whole era of independent movies died. They clotted the market. I didn't know how to get out of that, so I did [the second series of Kung Fu]".[26]

Carradine returned to the part of Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1992), which led to a new TV series that ran from 1993 to 1997, and consisted of 88 episodes. Carradine also worked as a producer and directed an episode. He starred in Kill Zone (1993), Dead Center (1993) for Steve Carver, Code... Death: Frontera Sur (1993), and Bitter End (1993). He was featured in a Lipton Tea commercial, which first aired during the broadcast of Super Bowl XXVIII. The advertisement paid tribute to The Three Stooges while satirizing his role in Kung Fu.[66] In 1997, Carradine was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The presenters played an April Fool's Day prank on him by first unveiling a star bearing the name of his brother, Robert.[67]

When Kung Fu: The Legend Continues ended, Carradine went into Last Stand at Saber River (1997), an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Lost Treasure of Dos Santos (1997), The Rage (1997), The Good Life (1997), Macon County Jail (1997), Nosferatu: The First Vampire (1997), Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998), The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998), Shepherd (1998), The Effects of Magic (1998), Kiss of a Stranger (1998), Sublet (1998), Martian Law (1998) for Hickox, Lovers and Liars (1998), Light Speed (1998), and Knocking on Death's Door (1999). In 1999, he made an appearance as the demon Tempus in the Season 1 finale episode of Charmed. He guest starred on shows such as Acapulco H.E.A.T., Just Shoot Me!, and Family Law. Carradine starred in Natural Selection (1999), Full Blast (1999), Zoo (1999), The Puzzle in the Air (1999), Dangerous Curves (2000) (starring Robert), Down 'n Dirty, Nightfall (2000), and By Dawn's Early Light (2000).

In 2001, he appeared in the episode "The Serpent" of the syndicated TV series Queen of Swords as the sword-wielding bandit El Serpiente filmed at Texas Hollywood studios in Almeria, Spain, home of many Spaghetti Westerns. Carradine was increasingly becoming a support actor in films: Largo Winch: The Heir (2001), G.O.D. (2001), Warden of Red Rock (2001), The Donor (2001), Out of the Wilderness (2001), The Defectors (2001), Wheatfield with Crows (2002) and The Outsider (2002). He guest-starred in The Nightmare Room, Jackie Chan Adventures, Titus, and King of the Hill. David also made a guest appearance in episode 11 of Lizzie McGuire as himself, which gave him an opportunity to work with his brother Robert, who played Lizzie's father in the series.

Carradine enjoyed a revival of his fame when he was cast in Quentin Tarantino's sequential Kill Bill movies, Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004). Among those who thought his portrayal of Bill, the assassin extraordinaire, would earn him an Academy Award nomination was Scott Mantz of The Mediadrome, who said, "Carradine practically steals every scene he's in with confident gusto, and he gives a soulful performance that should all but ensure a spot on next year's Oscar ballot."[68] Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper each had Kill Bill Vol. 2 on their top ten list for of Academy Awards predictions.[69] Although the films received no notice from the Academy, Carradine did receive a Golden Globe nomination[4] and a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor[13] for his portrayal of Bill. Carradine had a good part in American Reel (2003) but the overall quality of his roles did not improve: Dead & Breakfast (2004), Last Goodbye (2004), Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon (2004), Brothers in Arms (2005), Miracle at Sage Creek (2005), Final Move (2006), Saints Row (2006) and The Last Sect (2006). David Carradine took over hosting duties from his brother Keith on Wild West Tech on the History Channel, in 2005. The same year, he also played both himself and the ghost of a dead man for an episode of the NBC TV show Medium.

By 2006, he had become the spokesperson for Yellowbook, a publisher of independent telephone directories in the United States. He also appeared as Clockwork, the ghost of time, in two episodes of the animated series, Danny Phantom. He had a cameo in Epic Movie (2007) and was in Treasure Raiders (2007), How to Rob a Bank (and 10 Tips to Actually Get Away with It) (2007), Fall Down Dead (2007) (which he helped produce), Permanent Vacation (2007), and Fuego (2007). Carradine played Buckingham in a version of Richard III (2007) which he helped produce, and was in a studio film when he supported Rob Schneider in Big Stan (2007). He did another comedy Homo Erectus (2007) and was in Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007) and Hell Ride (2008), He starred in the 2008 TV movie, Kung Fu Killer, in which he played a Chinese martial arts master very similar to his Kung Fu series "Caine" persona—his character in this movie named "White Crane", and mostly referred to or addressed as "Crane", frequently pronounced in a manner that minimized the R sound.

Carradine's last performances included a role in the music video of the Jonas Brothers' song Burnin' Up (2008), Camille (2008), Last Hour (2008), Break (2008), The Golden Boys (2008), Kandisha (2008), Archie's Final Project (2009), Absolute Evil - Final Exit (2009), Road of No Return (2009) with Michael Madsen, Crank: High Voltage (2009), and Autumn (2009).

The actor, who once received an award for being the hardest-working actor in Hollywood,[70][11] still had approximately a dozen films in post-production at the time of his death in 2009. Most of these roles were cameos or small parts in independent, direct-to-DVD productions. Among them are a horror film, Dark Fields (2009); an action film, Bad Cop (2009); and a western, All Hell Broke Loose (2009); and Detention (2010), a thriller. He made one last film for Corman, Dinocroc vs. Supergator (2010) directed by Jim Wynorski. Ken Tucker, writing for Entertainment Weekly, said the film was "impeccable" and "goofy fun all the way".[71] He was also in Six Days in Paradise (2010) with Madsen; Money to Burn (2010); Stretch (2011); Highway to Hell (2012); and The Banksters, Madoff with America (2013).

Carradine also appeared in a minor role in Yuen Woo-ping's Chinese kung fu epic True Legend; they had first met while filming Kill Bill. Yuen eulogized Carradine on the True Legend website, describing him as a "good friend". Yuen said of Carradine:

He is among the first Hollywood actors to perform Chinese martial arts on the big screen. In real life he is also a genuine kung fu fan, and knows tai chi, qi gong and Chinese medicine. Same as I, people shall always remember his role as Caine, the grasshopper, in Kung Fu, in the '70s, which was a really unforgettable performance. I feel both great honour and regret that True Legend is one of David Carradine's last works.[72]

He appeared in the music video of the song Devil by Ours (2013), with images originally shot four years before for the unreleased short film 8 For Infinity, directed by Michael Maxxis.[73] His final released movie was the cult independent film, Night of the Templar (2013), directed by his friend Paul Sampson, in which Carradine wielded a sword (katana) for the final time on screen. Almost like a foreshadowing, there are several peculiar and eerie references in the film that coincidentally relate to the circumstances of Carradine's untimely passing, which include auto-erotic asphyxiation. His last scene on screen ended in the following dialog: "Well, old friend, see you in the next lifetime." / "Yeah, old friends, old soul mates." / "Yes, we are."

Carradine co-produced a full-length documentary about luthier Stuart Mossman, which has been identified as the actor's last film appearance.[74] The Legend of Stuart Mossman: A Modern Stradivari, directed by Barry Brown, premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, in February 2010.[75] It featured David, Keith, and Robert Carradine performing their music on Mossman guitars. Mossman had appeared with Carradine in Cloud Dancer (1980), which Brown also directed, and in The Long Riders.[74] On the small screen, Carradine appeared in a guest spot on the television series Mental that was broadcast just days after his death. On October 3, 2009, Celebrity Ghost Stories premiered on the Biography Channel with an interview of Carradine discussing his belief that his closet was haunted by his wife's deceased previous husband. The segment, which was described as "eerie," was filmed four months before his own death.[76]

In the late 1950s, while living in San Francisco, Carradine was arrested for assaulting a police officer. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace. While in the Army, he faced court-martial on more than one occasion for shoplifting.[11][90] After he became an established actor and had changed his name to David, he was arrested in 1967 for possession of marijuana.[91]

In 1974, at the height of his popularity in Kung Fu, Carradine was arrested again, this time for attempted burglary and malicious mischief.[92][93] While under the influence of peyote, Carradine began wandering nude around his Laurel Canyon neighborhood. He broke into a neighbor's home, smashing a window and cutting his arm,[11] and accosted two young women, allegedly assaulting one while asking her if she was a witch.[11] Carradine pleaded no contest to the mischief charge and was given probation.[94] He was never charged with assault, but the young woman sued him for $1.1 million[95] and was awarded $20,000.[96]

In 1980, while in South Africa filming Safari 3000 (also known as Rally), which co-starred Stockard Channing, Carradine was arrested for possession of marijuana.[97][98] He was convicted and given a suspended sentence.[99] He claimed that he had been framed by the apartheid government, as he had been seen dancing with Tina Turner.[11]

During the 1980s, Carradine was arrested at least twice for driving under the influence of alcohol, once in 1984[100] and again in 1989. In the second case, Carradine pleaded no contest.[101] Of this incident, the Los Angeles Times reported: "Legal experts say Carradine was handed a harsher-than-average sentence, even for a second-time offender: three years' summary probation, 48 hours in jail, 100 hours of community service, 30 days' work picking up trash for the California Department of Transportation, attendance at a drunk driving awareness meeting and completion of an alcohol rehabilitation program."[102]

In 1994, in Toronto, filming Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Carradine was arrested for kicking in a door at the SkyDome while attending a Rolling Stones concert. He later claimed that he was trying to avoid being swarmed by fans.[103]

Two autopsies were conducted. The first one was on June 5 at the nearby King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (1873 Rama IV Road, Pathum Wan district),[129] under the responsibility of Dr. Nanthana Sirisap, director of the Autopsy Center (Forensics Department), who stated: "For this case, the police had reported to us that the cause of his death was not clear, so we can assume that his death is abnormal which by law, we have to perform an autopsy." On his part, Aurelio Giraudo, the hotel's manager, stated they were assisting the police's investigation and wouldn't discuss details or disclose information about the case anymore.[130][131]

According to Col. Somprasong Yenthuam, the preliminary assumption about the cause of death was "suffocation." Both he and Dr. Sirisap refused to give more details until the toxicology report, autopsy, and forensic investigation were complete. The results were expected to be released three weeks to one month later.[123][132][133][134]

Starting on the night of June 5 at Larry King Live, with guests Mark Geragos, Keith Carradine's attorney, together with Chuck Binder (Carradine's manager), and Jerry Penacoli, it was reported that the Carradine family was dissatisfied by the way the investigation was being conducted by the Thai police because they were getting information only through the media and the case's narrative was evolving and conflicting, so they were seeking help from the FBI.[135][136][137]

On June 6, the tabloid Thairath published on its front page a grainy and obscured photo allegedly showing Carradine's dead body in the hotel room's closet; it was said that the Thai police believed it had been taken by a forensic team. The family threatened legal actions against any persons, publications, or media outlets which reprinted the photo for "invasion of privacy and causing severe emotional distress." [138][139]

On June 8, the Bangkok Post also published that police had said they believed the photo had been taken by a forensics team, but in a press conference on the same day, Maj. Gen. Amnuay Nimmano of the Thai police denied it, saying there were no media at the scene, and the picture had not been leaked by police.[140][141] On the same occasion, Maj. Gen. Nimmano stated the police had no problem in having the FBI's assistance as observers, but it had to follow proper procedures and request official permission; he also said the case "is not difficult, not complicated. This is a very straightforward and easy case." According to Michael Turner, U.S. Embassy's spokesman, the FBI agents attached to the Embassy had informal talks with the Thai police agents. The Bureau didn't request permission to intervene because, as spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said, it generally only gets involved in death investigations overseas if a crime is suspected. Thai police had already said there was no sign of struggle or assault and interviews to the hotel staff plus surveillance footage indicated no one entered Carradine's room before he died. [142][109][136][140] Between June 8 and 9, photos of Carradine's autopsied body surfaced on social networks, and were reported by gossip media.[143][144][145]

At the request of the Carradine family a second autopsy was performed, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Baden. It ruled out suicide but did not establish a cause or a manner of death.[146]

On June 11, the Carradine brothers gave a first public statement about the investigation. Keith Carradine said: “His is a devastating loss for our family and we greatly appreciate the compassion pouring in from all over the world. We wish to express our gratitude to the government of Thailand and the Lumpini Police Station in Bangkok for their support and cooperation and to the U.S. Department of State for their assistance.” After pleading with the public and the press to let the family mourn their loved one in peace, Robert Carradine added: "Once the investigation is fully completed and definitive conclusions have been reached, we will address the findings with the public." A written statement by Dr. Baden was read: "The autopsy findings and the evidence thus far available demonstrate that Mr. Carradine's death was not the result of suicide. However, to reach a final determination as to the cause and the manner of death we must wait for further information from Thailand as to the scene findings and the completion of the crime laboratory and toxicology studies that are still being performed."[147][148][149]

In July 2009, it was published that Dr. Baden had determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation; as for the manner of death, he ruled out suicide, he did not rule out homicide as he was awaiting more information on the hotel pass keys and security video, and he said about Carradine: "He didn't die of natural causes, and he didn't die of suicidal causes from the nature of the ligatures around the body, so that leaves some kind of accidental death." Even so, when questioned, Dr. Baden did not explicitly state that auto-erotic asphyxiation was the manner of death.[150][151][152][153]

Thai authorities did not release the forensic investigation results and autopsy reports.[154][105]

In contrast with the slow process of the police and forensic investigation, the tabloids and mainstream media reached a quick conclusion, as exemplified by the popular tabloid National Enquirer,[155][lower-alpha 1] and ABC News.[159] Given the scarce information delivered by the official investigation, they relied on other sources, the main ones being Dr. Porntip Rojanasunan, Ms. Marina Anderson, and Ms. Gail Jensen.

Starting on the afternoon of June 4,[160][117][118][161] it was reported that celebrity pathologist Dr. Porntip Rojanasunan, at the time Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science (dependent from the Ministry of Justice),[lower-alpha 2] and who did not take part in the investigation, had said that the circumstances of the death suggested auto-erotic asphyxiation: “In some cases it can suggest murder, too. But sometimes when the victim is naked and in bondage, it can suggest that the victim is doing it to himself. If you hang yourself by the neck, you don’t need so much pressure to kill yourself. Those who get highly sexually aroused tend to forget this fact.”[165][166][161][167][168]

On June 7, the Bangkok Post published a front-page article which said: "Initial police reports indicated suicide by hanging, but by week's end chief coroner Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan had all but confirmed Carradine had died from an unusual self-bondage act called "auto-erotic asphyxiation".[169]

On June 8, Maj. Gen. Amnuay Nimmano of the Thai police called a press conference to put an end to speculation. After refusing to comment on the condition Carradine's body was found or whether he had died due to auto-erotic asphyxiation, he said: "The previous conclusions on the cause of death were made by people who know nothing about the case," added that he had to protect the privacy of Carradine's family, and said everything would be known in a month's time.[142][134] However, Dr. Rojanasunan's opinion had already been published internationally; mentions of her name, claims that she had "been involved" with the autopsy or general mentions that "authorities" or "specialists" had officially ruled auto-erotic asphyxiation as the manner of death became commonplace in the media.[160][170][171][172][173][174][175][176]

While some associates of Carradine, like his attorney Vicki Roberts, his manager Chuck Binder, Keith Carradine's attorney Mark Geragos, and producer David Winters ventured the possibility of "foul play,"[177][178][135][169][179] immediately after the publication of Dr. Rojanasunan's opinion, two of Carradine's ex-wives appeared in tabloids, sensationalist and gossip media supporting that hypothesis; their testimonies were later reproduced by mainstream media.

Starting on June 5, 2009, with a publication on the sensationalist website The Smoking Gun,[180] it has been widely published that Marina Anderson, the fourth of Carradine's wives,[181][182] supported the hypothesis of auto-erotic asphyxiation as the manner of death, because in a sworn declaration belonging to "divorce court filings," she had accused the actor of "abhorant [sic] and deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly," and had stated he was engaged in an "incestuous relationship with a very close family member," all of what had been the cause for their divorce. In the document, she also accused him of multiple acts of psychological and physical abuse.[183][184][185][186][187]

The Smoking Gun's article states the "divorce" document in question had been filed in "mid-2003;" the published facsimile shows the date of February 21, 2003 (signed Coco d'Este, the name Ms. Anderson was using at the time).

However, the divorce had been finalized on December 12, 2001, according to Ms. Anderson's biography on her own website.[188] Moreover, the document had been previously published by The Smoking Gun on June 26, 2003, describing it as part of a dispute over financial terms that was happening after the divorce, mainly related to Ms. Anderson's claim that she had obtained for her ex-husband the title role in Kill Bill. The website states that until then the litigation had been "a civil affair," and characterized the document as "a devastating counterattack."[189] Some online media noted the story at the time.[190][191][192][193]

In the 2003 article, The Smoking Gun states that Ms. Vicki Roberts, David Carradine's attorney, had called the allegations "highly inflammatory and false" and had said they "have no place in a civilized society," adding that the document was supposed to have been sealed by an April court order. It is also mentioned that Ms. Anderson told them she stood by her allegations and that "she never sought to publicize [her declaration] and agreed to have [it] sealed at the request of her ex-husband's counsel." In the 2009 article, The Smoking Gun again states "the document was supposed to be filed under seal [...]."

As for how the website's team had access to a court document that according to the testimonies of Ms. Roberts and Ms. Anderson "was supposed to have been sealed," without formally requesting its unsealing, in 2003 they said it had been "found sitting in the court file," and in 2009 they said it had been "mistakenly placed in the public court file" of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. (In her 2010 autobiography, Ms. Anderson gives her testimony about how that may have happened. [lower-alpha 3])

From June 5 onward, Ms. Anderson gave several interviews to tabloid and gossip media[194] in which she said her ex-husband had a "dark side." While refusing to give specific details about what was stated in the litigation document, she said that she stood by her divorce document, including the incest part of it, and declared she didn't believe he had committed suicide. Regarding his sexual inclinations, she said she wouldn't comment out of respect for him, and that the scenario in Bangkok didn't surprise her. She reiterated that she had helped her ex-husband to get the role of Bill, and declared she was writing a book about her own healing and recovery.[195][196][197] These contents were reproduced by mainstream media,[198] which later added their own reporting, without questioning the document's origin, and Ms. Anderson did not clarify the issue at the time.[199]

On June 8, she gave a live, unedited telephone interview in Larry King Live, hosted by Joy Behar, where she maintained the same position. When told that it was being said that her ex-husband had died practicing auto-erotic asphyxiation, she said: "That can happen if the person is doing that."[200]

Starting on June 6, Gail Jensen, the third of Carradine's ex-wives,[201] gave several interviews which have been presented as evidence that her ex-husband's sexual interests included the practice of self-bondage and auto-erotic asphyxiation. Her words, which were usually linked to Ms. Anderson's 2003 litigation document, were published in tabloid and gossip media and then quoted by mainstream media, without conducting more interviews.

In some sources she is quoted saying he did have a penchant for being tied up, describing his actions as non-sexual, non-dangerous,[202][203][204] whereas in other sources her ex-husband's actions described with the same words are characterized as sexual by the source.[205][206][207][208][209][lower-alpha 4]

Later, the gossip website Radar Online posted a video interview of her.[lower-alpha 5] In the video's description, Ms. Jensen is quoted saying that her ex-husband "had his kinky moments," which she called "magical acts," and it is said that she ended her statement with "he was the love of my life and he always will be." The text characterizes her words as revelations of "explosive secrets" about her ex-husband's "shocking" sexual proclivities.[215] The New York Daily News quoted her words more extensively, as "He had his kinky moments," that her ex-husband "never, never" practiced auto-erotic asphyxiation, and about his use of tying his wrists, "he told me it was for meditation because of all the pressure on his life and things, so he'd tie himself up and relax, and I mean, I didn't think it was a horrible thing, but to me, it was a little weird." She mentioned that Carradine often fell asleep in the swimming pool and that he liked to wear Speedos. When asked if it was for sexual gratification, she said, "everything for him was for fun," same as his tattoos and piercings.[216]

Ms. Jensen's testimony with the sexual interpretation, although occasionally criticized,[212][217] was widely quoted by the mainstream media,[214][218][219] and is still quoted as a reliable source.[220]

There was another story told by Ms. Jensen that got the attention of the tabloids: it involved her ex-husband tied up, Christ-like, in the house's basement, while they were having company upstairs. It was reported as an "obsession with auto-erotica,"[221] and "kinky sex life."[222] The popular tabloid National Enquirer presented a different take on that story, in which she would have saved him from death by hanging.[223][lower-alpha 1]

On June 9, she gave a live, unedited interview to the gossip TV show Jane Velez-Mitchell, which aired on HLN (a CNN spin-off cable news channel). On that occasion, she told a slightly different version of the basement story, and said that tying himself up was for her ex-husband "a form of meditation and relaxation, away from stress." Asked by the host whether those acts had a sexual component, she agreed, saying she was sure he had "good dreams in his mind," and after the host insisted on whether his acts were a form of sexual release, she answered: "Exactly, escape, uh-huh. Release." After the interview, the segment continued with a conversation about Ms. Anderson's document and erotic asphyxiation. Guest psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky said that Ms. Jensen sounded "like she smokes and drinks," called her an "enabler" and qualified her testimony as "absolute poppycock" because auto-erotic asphyxiation is "an absolutely perverted behavior and it is dangerous and deadly."[224]

On the first anniversary of his death, Carradine's widow, Annie, filed a lawsuit for wrongful death against MK2 S.A., the French company that produced the film Carradine was working on at the time of his death. The lawsuit claimed that the company failed to provide assistance to the actor that had been agreed upon in his contract, and that the widow had had difficulties collecting on an insurance policy the filming company was required to have.[154][105]

Annie Carradine reached a settlement with MK2 S.A. in August 2011, in terms that were not disclosed, as reported by news agencies and tabloids.[225] The gossip website TMZ said she had received around $400,000 from the company and other defendants for Carradine's death.[226]

Also in June 2010, Marina Anderson published David Carradine: The Eye of My Tornado.[227][228] The subject is her relationship with him and the toll it took on her, physically, psychologically, and financially. She expands on his drinking, sexual, and abusive habits, states that she managed his career and her efforts got him the leading role in Kill Bill, clarifies the origin and elaborates on the contents of the 2003 litigation document, without identifying the adult person involved in the incest accusation. She insists she didn't mean that document to be published, and says she witnessed that the sealing was granted by the Los Angeles Superior Court.[lower-alpha 3] About its publication, on Chapter 31 she says: "The court documents of 2003 that ended up on The Smoking Gun website were meant to be sealed, but by some fluke ended up in our divorce file of public records. The scandalous revelation not only regarding incest, but also deviant sexual preferences, resurfaced upon David's death, since it seemed to support the method by which he died." The book includes a conversation with Dr. Drew Pinsky (Chapter 39) about erotic asphyxiation and sexual abuse; based on what Ms. Anderson told him, Dr. Pinsky concludes that her ex-husband was addicted to opiates: "[...] if he had opiates on hand, he was using them. Period. That's the way addicts are."

Also, she says that the details of his death didn't seem right to her, so after consulting several clairvoyants (Michael Bodine, Sloan Bella, Clarissa Bernhardt, astrologer Weiss Kelly), and two supporters of the murder hypothesis (Mark Ebner, who had written an article about it in Maxim magazine,[232] and David Winters,[169]), she launched her own investigation (Chapters 49-50). She says she obtained autopsy results and photos from anonymous sources, and that she interviewed Dr. Steven Pitt, Dr. Michael Baden, and the Bangkok coroners on the phone. Therefore, based on her personal knowledge that he never practiced erotic asphyxiation alone, and her own analysis of the forensic evidence, she postulates that David Carradine's death was a robbery-murder, likely committed by ladyboys, all of what was confirmed by psychics (astrologer Donna Hennen, Averi Torres).[233][234][235] Among the interviews Ms. Anderson gave promoting her book,[236] there was an extensive one to ABC News, in which she said: "I felt I had a very heavy responsibility to his fans, family and our relationship to see that my book was a balanced and truthful recount of our life together. My memoir is very much a love story… I wanted people to know David as a man, not just an icon, with incredible talents and quirky idiosyncrasies. Fans may think this is a trash book, but it's not."[174]

In a 2015 new edition, there is a section called "Updates. 2010 - current."[237] It enlists several hypotheses she considered about her ex-husband's death, among them that he was the target of a snuff film, that he was killed while working undercover for the FBI, or the possible involvement of a serial killer due to similarities to the Paul Milford Muller case.[238] She also says that at some point she received the Thai autopsy report by mail, because "In all the legal protocol that comes with a situation like this, having an ex-husband who dies, certain papers are sometimes required to be sent to particular parties who were part of their lives," which she had left in a folder for months not realizing what it was. According to Ms. Anderson, its data supported her conclusion that his death was a covered-up homicide originating from the sexual deviances that put him in a vulnerable situation, and all of that was confirmed by a communication from David Carradine himself, channeled by the psychic Sloan Bella.[lower-alpha 6] However, "There are certain details I'm still withholding. One day, maybe in a film based on this book, they will be revealed."[242][243][244][245]

On June 4 and on behalf of the Carradine family, actress Martha Plimpton issued a statement:
"My Uncle David was a brilliantly talented, fiercely intelligent and generous man. He was the nexus of our family in so many ways, and drew us together over the years and kept us connected. I adored him as a child, and as an adult I admired and respected him."
"We will all miss him terribly, and are so grateful for everyone's condolences. The passing of someone so loved is extremely difficult under any circumstances."
Plimpton asked the media to "respect his legacy and allow his family and loved ones to grieve peacefully."[246][247]

In an obituary written for The Boston Globe, film critic Ty Burr characterized him as "A true wild child of Hollywood [...] a 60s survivor, a legendary hellraiser, and a consistently underrated actor," and ended the article with "He was too weird, too ornery, and too tapped into the ghosts of the 1960s and the modern American West to sit comfortably atop the film industry's complacent heap. That's what made him a keeper."[248] The night of June 4, David Carradine was the subject of a segment on Larry King Live, with the presence of Quentin Tarantino, Michael Madsen, Chuck Binder (his manager), Rob Schneider from Boston, and Vivica A. Fox on the phone, reminiscing about him. Tarantino praised his writing talent and said that Endless Highway was decisive for casting him: "And as I was reading it, I was just like, well, this is my Bill, this is my guy. It wasn't another movie, it wasn't an audition, it wasn't having drinks together, it was his autobiography that said this is the guy." Larry King read a statement by Chuck Norris: "I've known David Carradine since the '70s when I was still competing and teaching martial arts and his TV series Kung Fu was creating so much interest in the sport. I'm deeply saddened by the news of his tragic death. He was a powerful performer, a strong personality, commanded attention, had a natural and unforced screen presence. You sometimes forget how versatile and talented he was," and one by Martin Scorsese: "I was deeply saddened by the news of David Carradine's passing. We met when we made Boxcar Bertha together almost 40 years ago. I have very fond memories of our time together and that picture and on Mean Streets, where he agreed to do a brief cameo. David was a great collaborator, a uniquely talented actor and a wonderful spirit." The guests agreed that Carradine would have liked to have "a mysterious death."[112][113]

David Carradine's funeral was held on June 13, 2009, in Los Angeles, at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery, with an estimated attendance of 400 people. The white hearse carrying his bamboo casket[249] arrived at the cemetery with an escort of Hells Angels. Among the many stars and family members who attended his memorial were Tom Selleck, Lucy Liu, Jane Seymour, James Keach, Stacy Keach, Rob Schneider, Frances Fisher, James Cromwell, David Leisure, Maria Conchita Alonso, Robert Forster, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Ali Larter, Edward James Olmos, Christopher Coppola, Steve Railsback, and Chris Potter. The ceremony lasted about two hours, including music, testimonies from friends, Lakota blessings, and ended at sunset.[250][251][252][253] David Carradine was buried in private.[254]

On November 27 of 2009, among the tributes to the artists deceased in 2009 published on the Entertainment Weekly website, Keith Carradine wrote about his brother's artistic talents, and followed with:
"But there was also the nonpublic David, who was a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and brother. He was unstinting in his love. He was no saint — and yet he could be utterly saintly. He would literally give you the shoes off his feet — if he was wearing any. You couldn’t embarrass him. The word shame did not exist in his lexicon. The Fool was his favorite tarot card. And he could play the fool as only a genius can. He was a seeker of truth who spent a lifetime walking on the edges of cliffs. He never seemed more at home than when he was on the brink. Perhaps because he knew that to step off didn’t mean falling — for him it meant flying."[255]

His grave was marked on December 3, 2009. The monument proclaims him to be "The Barefoot Legend" and includes as an epitaph a quote from Paint, a song he wrote and performed that became the theme to the film Sonny Boy. It reads: "I'm lookin' for a place where the dogs don't bite, and children don't cry and everything always goes just right. And brothers don't fight……". [256]