Alpine Opinion

In memory of ‘Grasshopper’

Posted in Entertainment by Ray Dixon on 5 June, 2009

Carradine never surpassed his role in Kung Fu ~ well, how could he?

Carradine never surpassed his role in Kung Fu ~ well, how could he?

Did David ‘Kung Fu’ Carradine do ‘a Hutchence’?

The news overnight  that actor David Carradine has been found dead in his Thailand hotel room (hanging half-naked by a cord in the closet) revives memories of his stand-out role as Kwai Chang Caine in the brilliant 1970s television series Kung Fu.

It also revives memories of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence’s mysterious death in very similar circumstances in a Sydney hotel in 1997. Carradine’s family have already stated that they believe the death was “accidental”. An accidental hanging? Alone in your hotel room? Half naked? Um, what exactly was the 72-year-old doing?

Update 5 June: The HS reports: “The death of Kung Fu star David Carradine appears to have been caused by a sex act gone wrong. The US actor was found dead in the closet of his luxury Bangkok hotel room overnight. Thai police told The Sun the actor was found with a curtain rope tied around his neck and genitals. They would neither confirm nor deny suggestions that Carradine was attempting auto-erotic asphyxiation, a practice designed to boost sexual pleasure.”

Not that I want to denigrate David Carradine. On the contrary, I reckon his performance in the long running Kung Fu series was one of the greatest TV performances of all time. It was an oddly conceived series (former Chinese monk roaming the badlands of America in the 1800s) but it was so well written and so well acted by Carradine that it stood out like a beacon in a sea of mediocrity.

The shows always had a great message too, and it wasn’t just one of good triumphing over evil. The humility, modesty and selflessness displayed by Carradine’s character were lessons to us all.

David Carradine never went on to any great heights following his epic Kung Fu role but then again, how could he possibly exceed that? It’s like when a band’s first album is such a classic that they are forever judged by that standard and, try as they may, they just can’t ever repeat it. And that’s another similarity to Hutchence. It’s a sad day but I hope this encourages TV stations to show some Kung Fu repeats.

Tagged with: , , , , ,

10 comments

10 Responses

Subscribe to comments with RSS.

  1. Don said, on 5 June, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    I thought the same thing Ray. But he’s 72 years old, if he was going to have a toss surely he’d lie in bed and crank one out rather than going to all the trouble of tying himself up in a closet?

    And even if one decided to do that why hop in the closet? Surely there was something he could tie himself to that was more secure and comfortable?

  2. Ray Dixon (Bright) said, on 5 June, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    Well Don, maybe it had a nice, strong, secure rail in the closet? Anyway, I’ve just heard on 7 News that it’s “suspected” he was engaged in a “sex act”. With himself, obviously. Gee, notice how the Aussie media doesn’t mind saying that about Carradine but made no such blatant references to Hutchence? … which was an even more obvious case of ‘death by self pleasuring’.

  3. clubwah said, on 5 June, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    That was very much the inference about Hutchence in the media Ray. It was only when the coroner found ruked that out that the story changed.

    Ah. who’d have thought that Grasshopper would have died playing with his flute.

  4. Ray Dixon (Bright) said, on 5 June, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    Was it? I don’t recall that being said so blatantly, Wah, but it was a long time ago.

    Anyway, you’d reckon the Shaolin monk could’ve got himself out of that mess, wouldn’t you?

  5. jr said, on 6 June, 2009 at 11:29 am

    So he died of a winky pop then? What a way to go!

  6. cosmicjester said, on 7 June, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    I only know him from Kill Bill, which was a great film and a great performance.

  7. Ray Dixon (Bright) said, on 7 June, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    He was a great actor, sadly stereotyped into near oblivion by his out-of-this-world portrayal of Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu.

  8. grasshopper said, on 9 June, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    In honor of Carradine’s passing, i’m currently looking for decent deal on his Kung Fu seasons on DVD if i can find them…

  9. Ray Dixon said, on 9 June, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    Try CBS. They seem to have all his Kung Fu images tied up. PS: I like the smoke rings!

  10. jimi said, on 19 June, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    Unbelievable but not all that surprising really. Our Mr Carradine had once confessed (or was supposed) to to having taken 10,000 LSD trips. I really don’t believe that anyone can survive that amount of tripping.

    OT: I remember reading that Bruce Lee had devised the concept for the TV series Kung Fu and was expecting to have the role but when he had come back from Hong Kong he discovered that Carradine had scored the role.

    Well regardless of all thats happened I still think that it is sad for his family and not a very nice way to go.


Comments are closed.