David Carradine: Rest in Peace, Comrade

Of course I watched him in Kung Fu, even though those of my persuasion were just a teeny bit irritated that he wasn’t Chinese. (His adorable sexiness made up for it, though.) And then there was the Woody Gurthrie biopic directed by Hal Ashby, Bound for Glory, and a little-seen 1983 gem called Americana.

A late actor friend named D.G. Buckles trod the boards with his glorious father, John Carradine, in the mid-50s.

Son David was Barbara Hershey’s boyfriend when she was Barbara Seagull. How she got that name is a typical story of my generation. Barbara went on to change her name back and star in two of my beloved Stephen Gyllenhaal’s films, A Dangerous Woman and the strange, strange Killing in a Small Town. The last one got her an Emmy.

David Carradine’s death in a Bangkok hotel room, however it happened, is just another one of those stories about actors on the road that we’ve heard since Shakespeare’s time. Rest in peace, comrade. Chris Willman wrote a story for Huffington a few months ago about the wildest film panel ever, and Carradine was at the center of it. Let’s remember him this way.

• NEW! Authorities now think David might have died from asphyxiation in attempting an auto-erotic act using a rope around his neck and genitals, thus ensuring his permanent place in Cantaraworld.

[This Land Is Your Land, Sung by Woody Guthrie]

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