The Thai newspaper The Nation reports that David Carradine was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok by a maid. While initial reports indicated an apparent suicide, friends and family members stepped forward to say they doubted that was the case. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said he died either this morning or yesterday evening but would not comment further.
The 72-year-old actor starred in a wide range of movie and TV roles over a nearly 50-year career. Arguably his two most famous were as Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine on the hit 1970s TV show Kung Fu and as folk singer Woody Guthrie in the 1976 biopic Bound for Glory. He also starred in the 1972 Martin Scorsese movie Boxcar Bertha and the 1977 Ingmar Bergman movie The Serpent's Egg.
Carradine experienced a resurgence in 2003 when Quentin Tarantino chose him to play the title role in his two Kill Bill movies. He was in Thailand to shoot the upcoming movie Stretch, according to his personal manager Chuck Binder, who added that the death is "shocking and sad. He was full of life, always wanting to work ... a great person."
David Carradine came from a family of actors that included his father, John Carradine, and his surviving half-brothers, Robert Carradine and Keith Carradine.