David Carradine

David Carradine

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Early life

Carradine was born John Arthur Carradine in Hollywood, California, the son of Ardanelle Abigail (née McCool) and noted American actor John Carradine. He is the brother of Bruce Carradine and half-brother of Keith and Robert Carradine, as well as the uncle of Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton. Carradine has Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, German, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and Cherokee ancestry. Carradine studied drama at San Francisco State University before working as an actor on stage as well as in television and cinema. He changed his given name to David after starting his career.

Career

Carradine is known for his roles as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series Kung Fu (as well as the sequels in the 1980s and 1990s), as well as 'Big' Bill Shelly in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha (1972), folksinger Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory (1976), Abel Rosenberg in Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg (1977), and as Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vols. 1 & 2 (2003,2004, respectively).

Other notable roles include the lead in Shane (the 1966 television series based upon the 1949 novel of the same name) and a gunslinger in Taggart, a 1964 western film based on a novel by Louis L'Amour. He also starred in the Broadway version of the play The Royal Hunt of the Sun in 1965. More recently, he portrayed Tempus, a powerful demon with the ability to manipulate time, on the hit television series Charmed, as well as Conrad in the television series Alias. He currently appears as the host of Wild West Tech on the History Channel, taking over the duties from his brother Keith. Carradine has twice played a supernatural being with the power to control time: "Tempus" on Charmed and "Clockwork" on Danny Phantom.

Carradine appears in an episode of Disney's Lizzie McGuire. In this episode, an upcoming Jet Li film is auditioning boys the age of Lizzie's brother Matt for the role of the sidekick. Carradine plays an old friend of Lizzie's father, Sam McGuire, who teaches Matt a few Kung fu moves for his audition tape. When asked how he knows Carradine's character, Mr. McGuire replies cryptically, "He's like a brother to me." This is an in-joke as the actor who portrays Sam, Robert Carradine, is David Carradine's actual (half-) brother. Additionally, a large portion of the episode is spent in parody of Kung Fu, one of Carradine's most famous projects. He also had an unusual guest appearance in an episode of Medium: he played the spirit of a murdered mentally disturbed mathematician whose constant fantasies of being a hero caused him to believe he looked like David Carradine (which reflected in the appearance of his spirit). In the end of the episode, after his murderer is caught, he seems to improve and tells Allison that next time they meet he will "look more like [himself]".

Carradine has also provided his voice for the King of the Hill episode, Returning Japanese where he voiced the character of Hank's Japanese half-brother, Junichiro, who lives in Japan. He provided the voice for Lo Pei, the ancient warrior who was responsible for Shendu's petrification in the animated series: Jackie Chan Adventures.

Carradine is also known for producing and starring in several exercise videos teaching the martial arts of Tai chi and Qi Gong. Carradine actually had no knowledge of martial arts prior to starring in the series Kung Fu, but developed an interest in it after this experience and has since become an avid practitioner.

Carradine narrated the PBS anthropology series "Faces of Culture". In 2006, he became the spokesman for Yellow Book (directory), a publisher of independent telephone directories in the United States.

Carradine has been the TV spokesperson for Nestea ("This ain't no sippin' tea"), in a memorable commercial where he pays homage not only to Kung Fu, but also to the Three Stooges.

Carradine also appears in the music video for "Minus You" by the southern California band Chapel of Thieves, which was co-directed by the YouTube personality Boh3m3. He is still widely recognized as his Kung Fu character, "Grasshopper"...a nickname to which he answers proudly.

Carradine also worked with the Jonas Brothers in their video Burnin' Up, playing a Kung Fu Master.

Filmography