Post by Elvira on Jun 4, 2009 18:32:26 GMT
US actor Carradine found dead in hotel room:
US actor David Carradine, star of television series Kung Fu and the Kill Bill movies, was found hanging dead in the wardrobe of a Bangkok hotel room Thursday, Thai Police said they suspected suicide. Local media reported a maid had found him Thursday morning with his bed apparently not slept in.
The US embassy in Thailand confirmed the death.
"We can confirm that Mr. Carradine passed away in Bangkok today," a US embassy official told AFP.
"He was found in his hotel room in Bangkok but the cause of death has not yet been established," the official said.
"We suspect that he committed suicide by hanging himself," local police officer Pirom Janthapirom told AFP, saying that security cameras showed no one else going in or out of Carradine's room.
"We found his body hanging in the wardrobe of his hotel room at around 11:30 am (0430 GMT) with a rope around his neck," said Pirom.
Carradine was best known for his role as the fugitive half-Chinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV drama "Kung Fu". More recently, he played the titular villain Bill in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies.
"We are investigating from where he got the rope because it does not seem it was from the hotel," and all of the actor's personal belongings "were intact", Pirom said.
"There is no trace of fighting in the hotel room and the room was locked from inside," he said, adding that there was no sign of bruising on the deceased's body.
Carradine was the son of prominent actor John Carradine and part of an acting family that includes brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine.
The 72-year-old was in Bangkok to shoot his latest movie, Stretch, and had been staying at the Nai Lert Park Hotel on the same road as the US and British Embassies since June 2, English-language newspaper The Nation reported.
The hotel's general manager, Aurelio Giraudo, confirmed the actor had checked in last week but gave no further details.
The Nation newspaper's website said that the film crew had been aware of Carradine's absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant nearby on Wednesday.
The paper reported that the hotel maid had found him at 10:00 am in the closet of his room "half naked".
His personal manager, Chuck Binder, paid tribute to the actor, telling the BBC that the news was "shocking".
"He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person," he said.
Carradine also appeared in Martin Scorsese's "Boxcar Bertha" in 1972, and played legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie in the 1976 film "Bound for Glory", which gained him a Golden Globe nomination.
Among other roles he starred in "Mean Streets" with Robert de Niro and Harvey Keitel, and in Ingmar Bergman's film "The Serpent's Egg" set in Weimar Germany.
But it was in Quentin Tarantino's two-part "Kill Bill" in 2003 and 2004 that Carradine rediscovered true fame after years in the movie-making wilderness and battles with drugs and alcohol abuse.
In Thai cinemas, Carradine was recently seen as a martial arts guru in the Rob Schneider comedy "Big Stan" and as an elderly Chinese mobster in "Crank: High Voltage" starring Jason Statham.
He was born on December 8, 1936, during Hollywood's "Golden Age" of cinema, though he first entered showbusiness through musical theatre on New York's Broadway.
US actor David Carradine, star of television series Kung Fu and the Kill Bill movies, was found hanging dead in the wardrobe of a Bangkok hotel room Thursday, Thai Police said they suspected suicide. Local media reported a maid had found him Thursday morning with his bed apparently not slept in.
The US embassy in Thailand confirmed the death.
"We can confirm that Mr. Carradine passed away in Bangkok today," a US embassy official told AFP.
"He was found in his hotel room in Bangkok but the cause of death has not yet been established," the official said.
"We suspect that he committed suicide by hanging himself," local police officer Pirom Janthapirom told AFP, saying that security cameras showed no one else going in or out of Carradine's room.
"We found his body hanging in the wardrobe of his hotel room at around 11:30 am (0430 GMT) with a rope around his neck," said Pirom.
Carradine was best known for his role as the fugitive half-Chinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV drama "Kung Fu". More recently, he played the titular villain Bill in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies.
"We are investigating from where he got the rope because it does not seem it was from the hotel," and all of the actor's personal belongings "were intact", Pirom said.
"There is no trace of fighting in the hotel room and the room was locked from inside," he said, adding that there was no sign of bruising on the deceased's body.
Carradine was the son of prominent actor John Carradine and part of an acting family that includes brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine.
The 72-year-old was in Bangkok to shoot his latest movie, Stretch, and had been staying at the Nai Lert Park Hotel on the same road as the US and British Embassies since June 2, English-language newspaper The Nation reported.
The hotel's general manager, Aurelio Giraudo, confirmed the actor had checked in last week but gave no further details.
The Nation newspaper's website said that the film crew had been aware of Carradine's absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant nearby on Wednesday.
The paper reported that the hotel maid had found him at 10:00 am in the closet of his room "half naked".
His personal manager, Chuck Binder, paid tribute to the actor, telling the BBC that the news was "shocking".
"He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person," he said.
Carradine also appeared in Martin Scorsese's "Boxcar Bertha" in 1972, and played legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie in the 1976 film "Bound for Glory", which gained him a Golden Globe nomination.
Among other roles he starred in "Mean Streets" with Robert de Niro and Harvey Keitel, and in Ingmar Bergman's film "The Serpent's Egg" set in Weimar Germany.
But it was in Quentin Tarantino's two-part "Kill Bill" in 2003 and 2004 that Carradine rediscovered true fame after years in the movie-making wilderness and battles with drugs and alcohol abuse.
In Thai cinemas, Carradine was recently seen as a martial arts guru in the Rob Schneider comedy "Big Stan" and as an elderly Chinese mobster in "Crank: High Voltage" starring Jason Statham.
He was born on December 8, 1936, during Hollywood's "Golden Age" of cinema, though he first entered showbusiness through musical theatre on New York's Broadway.