Image courtesy of www.danheller.com

Actor David Carradine, part of the legendary Carradine acting dynasty, was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand, early this morning.  Carradine was in Thailand filming a movie, and did not show up for dinner with the crew yeasterday evening.  Nobody was alarmed at the time, but then a chambermaid found his body still in his hotel room this morning.  The coroner said he had been dead for about 12 hours at that time.

Sources say that Carradine was found hanged with the hotel room’s curtain cords and is believed to have committed suicide.  There is no indication of foul play.  However, this isn’t confirmed, and his agent is insisting that David died of natural causes. 

Carradine made over a hundred films, working with some of the best directors in Hollywood.  Most recently his work in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill series won him critical and popular acclaim.  But for most people of a certain age, he will always be affectionately remembered for the 70′s series Kung Fu, where he played traveling Old West Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine (famously called “Grasshopper” by his spiritual master).

Carradine was known to be somewhat eccentric, but I’d never heard that he was unstable or suffering from this kind of pain or depression.  I am sorry for his death, and I hope that wherever he is now,  he’s found the peace he was looking for.

Rest in peace, Grasshopper.