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David Carradine dies aged 72

Actor David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel.

David CarradineActor David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel.

The AP report:

The officer responsible for investigating the death, Teerapop Luanseng, said the 72-year-old actor was staying at a suite at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel.

“I can confirm that we found his body, naked, hanging in the closet,” Teerapop said. He said police suspected suicide.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, said the embassy was informed by Thai authorities that Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.

The Thai newspaper The Nation have more details, reporting that Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday:

Carradine, 72, was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and staying at Suite Room 352 in the Park Nai Lert Hotel on Wireless Road since June 2.

The film crew noticed his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant on Sathon Road on Wednesday.

Carradine did not show up at the dinner and the team could not reach him. They assumed that because of his age he was resting in his room.

A hotel maid opened his suite yesterday at 10am only to find Carradine dead in a closet. He was described as being half-naked.

A police investigation showed that he hung himself with a rope, the kind that is used for curtains.

Police said he was dead not less than 12 hours and found no sign of fighting or assault.

Police said Carradine’s body was taken to a hospital for an autopsy that would be done Friday.

The son of a Hollywood acting family, Carradine was the son of Ardanelle Abigail and noted American actor John Carradine.

He was the brother of Bruce Carradine and half-brother of Keith and Robert Carradine, as well as the uncle of Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton.

His most well known role was as the lead “Grasshopper” (aka Kwai Chang Caine) in the 70s TV show Kung Fu, which was a huge success and shelped spark the appetite for martial arts in that decade.

Other notable films he appeared in were Martin Scorsese’s Boxcar Bertha (1972), Hal Ashby’s Oscar-winning Bound for Glory (1976), Ingmar Bergman’s The Serpent’s Egg (1977) and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films (2003/2004) where he played the title character.

Most recently he played a 100 year-old Chinese gangster in Crank: High Voltage.

> BBC News on the actor’s death
> David Carradine at the IMDb
> The Huffington Post and Hollywood Elsewhere on a riotous Q&A following a Bound For Glory screening in LA