Tribute: David Carradine
Posted on June 5, 2009 at 8:00 am
Fans throughout the world mourn the loss of David Carradine. The son of actor John Carradine (“The Grapes of Wrath”), he first achieved success as the star of the television series “Kung Fu,” where he played a mysterious Western character who had been trained in the then-obscure Chinese method of combat. He is probably best remembered now as the title character in Quentin Taratino’s two “Kill Bill” movies.
My friend Adam Bernstein wrote about Carradine’s legacy in the Washington Post. And my friend Mike Clark reminded me of Carradine’s best performance in the 1976 biography of Woody Guthrie, “Bound for Glory.”
I recently read the “Kill Bill Diaries” which highlighted Carradine’s ability as an entertaining and fascinating storyteller. Ever since “Kung Fu,” I’ve been a big fan, and I am so sorry about this untimely death.
I’ve heard the “Kill Bill Diaries” are terrific, Alicia — thanks for mentioning them. I always felt he had more to offer than most of his movie appearances permitted him to show.
He will be missed.
In Carradine’s own words (from “The Kill Bill Diary”):
“I figured out a long time ago that we were all living in a little box. We think it’s the world, but it’s just a box. If we work at it really hard, superhumanly hard, we break out of that box, and find ourselves in a truly big, wide world. But if we continue to evolve, we’ll eventually discover that this New World is nothing but a bigger box. And then, maybe, we’ll break out of that one into, yes, yet another much bigger box. The process may be endless. I don’t know. I may not live long enough to find out. And, if there is no end to it, it doesn’t matter how long I live, or how many times I reinvent myself, I’ll never come to an ending to the journey.”