David Carradine

David Carradine Profile Photo

Biography

David Carradine (born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series Kung Fu, playing Kwai Chang Caine, a peace-loving Shaolin monk travelling through the American Old West. He also portrayed the title character of both of the Kill Bill films. He appeared in two Martin Scorsese films: Boxcar Bertha and Mean Streets. David Carradine was a member of the Carradine family of actors that began with his father, John Carradine. The elder Carradine's acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television, and in cinema, spanned more than four decades. A prolific "B" movie actor, David Carradine appeared in more than 100 feature films in a career spanning more than six decades. He received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his work on Kung Fu, and received three additional Golden Globe nominations for his performances in the Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory (1976), the television miniseries North and South (1985), and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2, for which he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. Throughout his life, Carradine was arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses, which often involved substance abuse. Films that featured Carradine continued to be released after his death. These posthumous credits were from a variety of genres including action, documentaries, drama, horror, martial arts, science fiction, and westerns. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was a director and musician. Moreover, influenced by his Kung Fu role, he studied martial arts. On April 1, 1997, Carradine received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Description above from the Wikipedia article David Carradine, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Career Overview

David Carradine has 236 screen credits in a career dating back to 1944. Their work spans 16 cinematic universes — most prominently Death Race 2000 with 2 titles. Signature works include Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Kill Bill: Vol. 2. Explore the interactive character relationship maps on each title page to trace how their roles connect across franchises.

Personal Facts

Known For
Acting
Gender
male
Known Credits
236
Birth Date
1936-12-08 00:00:00
Birth Place
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Known For

Associated Universes

Universe traveler — spans 16 universes

Frequent Collaborators

Credits

Content sources

Related entry on Wikidata (Q187038), public domain (CC0).