What was David Carradine’s Net Worth, Career, Biography, Facts, Age, Life Story

David Carradine was an American actor, musician, writer, director, producer, and martial artist who had a net worth of $500 thousand dollars at the time of his death. David, the son of actor John, Carradine, was best known for his leading role as Kwai Chang Caine on the series “Kung Fu” (1972–1975) and “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues” (1993–1997) as well as the more recent role of Bill in Quentin Tarantino “Kill Bill” series (2003–2004). Carradine appeared in more than 230 film and television projects, including the miniseries “North and South” (1985), the ABC series “Shane” (1966), and “Bound for Glory” (1976), a Woody Guthrie biopic in which he played the lead role.

Carradine wrote, directed, and co-produced the short musical “A Country Mile” (1973), and he directed the films “You and Me” (1975) and “Americana” (1981) as well as three episodes of “Kung Fu” and a 2001 episode of “Lizzie McGuire.” David served as a producer on “Americana,” “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues,” and several other projects, such as “Kung Fu: The Movie” (1986), “Crime Zone” (1988), “Future Force” (1989), “Crime of Crimes” (1989), and “Richard III” (2007). Carradine also wrote the books “The Spirit of Shaolin” (1991), “Endless Highway” (1995), “David Carradine’s Tai Chi Workout” (1995), “David Carradine’s Introduction to Chi Kung” (1997), and “The Kill Bill Diary: The Making of a Tarantino Classic as Seen Through the Eyes of a Screen Legend” (2006), and he wrote and performed the theme songs for “Americana” and the 1989 film “Sonny Boy.” David died in June 2009 while he was in Bangkok, Thailand, filming a movie. His death was ruled accidental asphyxiation.

Early Life

David Carradine was born John Arthur Carradine Jr. on December 8, 1936, in Los Angeles, California. His parents, John and Ardanelle, divorced in 1944, and David had four half-brothers, Keith Carradine, Bruce, Robert Carradine, and Christopher.

Carradine was the uncle of actresses Martha Plimpton and Ever Carradine, and most of his half-brothers are actors as well. At age 5, David tried to hang himself after he found out that he and Bruce didn’t have the same biological father (Bruce was Ardanelle’s son from her first marriage, and John adopted him). He was saved by his father, who then confiscated and burned David’s comic book collection.

After Carradine’s parents split up, they battled over child custody and alimony, and after the divorce was settled, David moved in with his father, who was living in New York City. In 1967, David and John co-starred in a live telecast of “A Christmas Carol.” Carradine spent a few years in reform schools, boarding schools, and foster homes before moving back to California. He attended Oakland High School, then he enrolled at Oakland Junior College. After his first year at Oakland Junior College, David transferred to San Francisco State College to study music theory and drama, and he wrote music for annual revues put on by the school’s drama department. He eventually dropped out of college, and in 1960, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Carradine drew pictures for Army training aids, and while he was stationed at Virginia’s Fort Eustis, he formed a theatre company that was known as the “entertainment unit.” During his time in the Army, David was court-martialed after he was caught shoplifting at a base grocery store, and he was honorably discharged in 1962.

Career

After leaving the Army, Carradine changed his first name to avoid being confused with his father. He made both his Broadway and film debuts in 1964, appearing in a production of Rolf Hochhuth’s “The Deputy” and the Western movie “Taggart,” and the following year, he performed on Broadway again, winning a Theatre World Award for Peter Shaffer’s “The Royal Hunt of the Sun.” In the ’60s, David appeared in the films “Bus Riley’s Back in Town” (1965), “Too Many Thieves” (1966), “The Violent Ones” (1967), “Heaven with a Gun” (1969), “Young Billy Young” (1969), and “The Good Guys and the Bad Guys” (1969), guest-starred on television shows such as “Alfred Hitchcock Hour” (1965) and “Ironside” (1968), and played the title role on the 1966 Western series “Shane.” From 1972 to 1975, Carradine starred as Kwai Chang Caine on ABC’s “Kung Fu,” which aired 63 episodes over three seasons and earned David a Primetime Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination. He reprised his role on “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues,” which ran for 88 episodes from 1993 to 1997, and the 1986 television film “Kung Fu: The Movie.”

Carradine starred in Martin Scorsese’s “Boxcar Bertha” in 1972, and he worked with Scorsese again in 1973’s “Mean Streets.” Around this time, he also appeared in the films “The Long Goodbye” (1973), “A Country Mile” (1973), “Death Race 2000” (1975), and “Cannonball” (1976), and he received his second Golden Globe nomination for 1976’s “Bound for Glory.” David appeared in more than 20 films in the 1980s, including “Lone Wolf McQuade” (1983), “Armed Response” (1986), “Wheels of Terror” (1987), “Run for Your Life” (1988), “Warlords” (1988), “Nowhere to Run” (1989), and “Night Children” (1989). He played Justin LaMotte in the 1985 miniseries “North and South,” earning another Golden Globe nomination, and he narrated the 1983 documentary series “Faces of Culture.” In the ’90s, Carradine appeared in films such as “Bird on a Wire” (1990), “Martial Law” (1990), “Karate Cop” (1991), “Double Trouble” (1992), “The Rage” (1997), “Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror” (1998), and “The New Swiss Family Robinson” (1998), and he voiced Chief Wulisso in 1998’s “An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island.”

Carradine guest-starred on “Just Shoot Me!” (2000), “Titus” (2001), “Alias” (2003; 2004), and “Medium” (2006), and he hosted “Wild West Tech” on The History Channel from 2004 to 2005 (his half-brother Keith was the show’s original host). David was a cast member on the VH1 reality series “Celebrity Paranormal Project” in 2006, and he appeared on “Celebrity Ghost Stories” in 2009. In 2003, David co-starred with Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill: Volume 1,” which grossed $180.9 million at the box office. He reprised the role of Bill in 2004’s “Kill Bill: Volume 2,” which was also a hit ($152.2 million) and earned Carradine several award nominations, including his fourth Golden Globe nomination. In the 2000s, David appeared in more than 50 films (some of them posthumously), such as “Epic Movie” (2007), “How to Rob a Bank” (2007), “Permanent Vacation” (2007), “Hell Ride” (2008), “Kandisha” (2008), “Crank: High Voltage” (2009), “True Legend” (2010), and “Eldorado” (2012). At the time of his death, Carradine was filming the French movie “Stretch,” which was released in 2011.

Personal Life

David was married five times. He wed Donna Lee Becht, his high school sweetheart, on Christmas Day in 1960, and they welcomed daughter Calista in April 1962. After they divorced in late 1967, Carradine began a relationship with his “Heaven with a Gun” co-star Barbara Hershey, and the couple had a son, Free (who later changed his name to Tom), in 1972. David and Barbara split up after he began an affair with actress Season Hubley in the mid-’70s. Carradine married Linda Gilbert on February 2, 1977, and they had daughter Kansas in 1978. David and Linda divorced in October 1983, then he married Gail Jensen on December 4, 1986. The two were married until early 1997, then Carradine wed Marina Anderson on February 20, 1998. When Marina filed for divorce, she claimed that David engaged in “abhorrent and deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly,” and she later published a book entitled “David Carradine: The Eye of My Tornado.” The divorce was finalized in December 2001, then Carradine married Annie Bierman, on December 26, 2004. They remained together until David’s death in 2009, and he was stepfather to Amanda, Madeleine, Olivia, and Max, Annie’s children from her two previous marriages.

In the late ’50s, Carradine was arrested for assaulting a San Francisco police officer. He was arrested for marijuana possession in 1967 and 1980 and for malicious mischief and attempted burglary in 1974. In the 1974 incident, David broke into a neighbor’s house while he was naked and high on peyote, and he allegedly assaulted a woman who later sued him for $1.1 million (she only received a $20,000 settlement). Carradine was arrested for D.U.I. in 1984 and 1989, and the second time, he was sentenced to “three years’ summary probation, 48 hours in jail, 100 hours of community service, 30 days’ work picking up trash for the California Department of Transportation, attendance at a drunk driving awareness meeting and completion of an alcohol rehabilitation program.” In 1994, he was arrested before a Rolling Stones concert at Toronto’s SkyDome for kicking in a glass door at the venue. According to a SkyDome spokesman, “His side of the story was that he was worried about getting swarmed by people who recognized him so he wanted to get into the building.”

Death

At age 72, Carradine was found dead on June 3, 2009, in his hotel room at Bangkok’s Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel. According to a police official, David was found naked and “hanging by a rope in the room’s closet.”

Though many speculated that Carradine had died by suicide, after two autopsies were performed, it was concluded that his cause of death was “accidental asphyxiation.” Photo’s of David’s body at the scene of his death as well as autopsy photos were printed in newspapers and circulated on the internet, causing outrage and an FBI probe.

Carradine’s funeral service took place 10 days after his death, and he was buried in a bamboo casket at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. His grave marker is engraved with the phrase “The Barefoot Legend” and the lyrics “I’m looking for a place where the dogs don’t bite and children don’t cry and everything always goes just right and brothers don’t fight,” which are from his song “Paint.”

A year after David’s death, his widow, Annie, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against MK2 Productions, the company that was producing the movie Carradine was filming in Bangkok at the time of his death. The lawsuit alleged that the assistant the company provided David “left him behind for dinner on the night before the actor was found dead. The assistant and other film staffers apparently could not reach Carradine and decided to leave without him. Carradine called the assistant an hour later but was told the group was across town, and he would have to make his own arrangements that evening.” The lawsuit was settled in August 2011, and Annie received $400,000 from the production company.

Awards and Nominations

In 1973, Carradine earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Drama Series – Continuing) for “Kung Fu.” He received four Golden Globe nominations: Best TV Actor – Drama for “Kung Fu” (1974), Best Actor in Motion Picture – Drama for “Bound for Glory” (1977), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for “North and South” (1986), and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (2005). David received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2005 Action on Film International Film Festival, and he was honored with a Capri Legend Award in 2004. In 1998, Carradine and his half-brothers Keith and Robert received a Golden Boot at the Golden Boot Awards, and David won Best Supporting Actor awards for “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” at the 2004 Golden Schmoes Awards and the 2005 Saturn Awards (which are put on by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films). He received a special mention for “Kandisha” at the Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema in 2010, and he was named Best Actor for “Bound for Glory” by the National Board of Review in 1976.

Carradine earned numerous nominations for “Kill Bill: Vol. 2,” including Best Supporting Actor nods from the Awards Circuit Community Awards, Gold Derby Awards, International Online Cinema Awards, Italian Online Movie Awards, Online Film & Television Association, Online Film Critics Society Awards, and Satellite Awards. The cast of “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” received an Awards Circuit Community Award nomination for Best Cast Ensemble as well. David also earned a New York Film Critics Circle Award nomination for Best Actor for “Bound for Glory” in 1977. Carradine received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997 and a bronze plaque on the Walk of Western Stars in 2008, and he was posthumously inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum’s Hall of Fame in 2014.