**David Carradine** (December 8, 1936 Hollywood, California, U.S. – June 3, 2009, Bangkok, Thailand), was an American actor. He was famous as the lead in a 1970s tv series *Kung Fu*.

Carradine had an unstable childhood. This instability continued throughout his life. He married five times. He was frequently arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses which often involved substance abuse. He died on June 3, 2009, from erotic asphyxiation.

Television
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Carradine began his career participating in small roles in 1960s television show as Armstrong Circle Theatre, Wagon Train, The Virginian, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre. 

His first starring role was in the TV western *Shane* (1965), where he played a lone cowboy going from town to town helping people who have problems with gunmen and bandits. 

He leapt to fame in 1972 playing the role of Kwai Chang Caine, in the TV series *Kung Fu*. Kwai Chang Caine is a Shaolin monk fugitive who fled to America to escape the Emperor who put a price on his head, for the crime of his father.
63 episodes were filmed between (1972 - 1975). He returned to play the character in *Kung Fu: The Movie* (1986), and *Kung Fu: The Legend Continues* (1992 - 1997) (TV series). 

One of his films for television was *High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane* (1980), with Lee Majors and directed by Jerry Jameson.

Carradine had appearances in many television series including: *Gunsmoke*, *Night Gallery*, *Ironside*, *Darkroom*, *Airwolf*, *The Fall Guy*, *North and South* (mini-series), *Matlock*, *Profiler*, *Acapulco H.E.A.T.*, and *Family Law*.

He was also the voice of Clockwork for the T.V. show Danny Phantom.

Movies
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After *Kung Fu*, David starred in movies *Death Race 2000* (1975), with Sylvester Stallone, *Cannonball!* (1976), Bound for Glory (1976), he plays the role of Woody Guthrie an American folk singer, *Thunder and Lightning* (1977), *The Serpent's Egg* (1977), director Ingmar Bergman, *Gray Lady Down* (1978), *Circle of Iron* (1978).

In 1980, Carradine starred in *The Long Riders*, with Stacy Keach, and directed by Walter Hill. In 1983 co-starred in *Lone Wolf McQuade*, with Chuck Norris.

In the mid 1980s, he acted in low-budget films, among which are *Armed Response* (1986) with Lee Van Cleef, *Crime Zone* (1989). 

He returned to play the role of Bill in Quentin Tarantino's film *Kill Bill: Vol. 1* (2003), with Uma Thurman. 

Carradine starred in major motion pictures and several important awards were awarded to him.

Other websites
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* David Carradine on IMDb
* David Carradine at the Internet Broadway Database
* David Carradine at the TCM Movie Database
* David Carradine at AllMovie
* David Carradine at TV.com
* David Carradine at TV Guide
* David Carradine at MySpace
* Onion interview Archived 2007-03-13 at the Wayback Machine
* IGN interview with David Carradine Archived 2006-05-28 at the Wayback Machine
* *"A Fresh Thing": David Carradine Archived 2005-04-11 at the Wayback Machine*
* David Carradine – *The Daily Telegraph* obituary
* McLellan, Dennis. "David Carradine dies at 72; star of 'Kung Fu'," *Los Angeles Times*, Friday, June 5, 2009.
* David Carradine Family Tree