Signed "To Rick David Carradine"
A leading and supporting player in television and movies, actor David
Carradine rose to fame with his iconic role, Kwai Chang Caine, the
half-Asian student of life on the popular TV series, "Kung Fu" (ABC,
1972-75), a role he would go on to reprise for a syndicated series in
the late 1990s. The son of legendary actor John Carradine, he excelled
at playing villains in action and terror films which, unfortunately,
were often relegated to the straight-to-video shelf. Almost as famous as
his Kung Fu persona, was his psychedelic lifestyle and devotion to
Eastern philosophy, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s when Carradine
seemed more engaged in his alternative lifestyle than in furthering his
career - with the possible exceptions of his starring role as folk
singer Woody Guthrie in the Oscar-nominated "Bound for Glory" (1976) and
a turn in Ingmar Bergman's confusing "The Serpent's Egg" (1977). After
two decades of relative quiet, Carradine found new life as the titular
assassin in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" (2003) and "Kill
Bill, Vol. 2" (2004). He went on to recur on the popular series, "Alias"
(ABC, 2001-06) and play the head of the Chinese Triad in the action
thriller "Crank: High Voltage" (2009). But his resurgence was cut short
following a tragic death under unusual circumstances, leaving fans
wondering what else the venerable actor might have had in store.