David Carradine, the 70's TV icon from Kung Fu and title character of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films, was found dead today in a Thailand hotel, in an apparent suicide.

The 72-year-old actor was in Bangkok working on the movie Stretch. Thailand's news site The Nation reported the death, citing local authorities that Carradine was "found hung in a closet," and that suicide was suspected.

Carradine led a prolific life in front of the camera, by his own count having starred in over 100 films and over 160 hours of television. His most famous role was as Kwai Chang Caine, the Old West wanderer in the 1970s series Kung Fu.

In recent years, audiences will remember Carradine as the omnipotent eponymous villain in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, which Carradine claimed were partly written under the influence of his autobiography, Endless Highway.

Carradine is scheduled to appear in the new FOX series Mental next week in the show's third episode airing June 9 at 9pm.

Born December 8, 1936 as part of an acting family headed by father John Carradine, a prolific actor of the 1930s-1980s, Carradine is survived by his acting brothers Robert Carradine and Keith Carradine.

His film and television credits attest to the fact that Carradine was an accomplished student of the martial arts, studying them for nearly 40 years.

Over the course of his career, Carradine garnered an Emmy nomination for his iconic Kung Fu role, and four Golden Globe nominations, including one for Kill Bill Vol. 2, the same role for which he won the Saturn Award for best supporting actor in 2005.


-Meghan Carlson, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of WENN)