Farewell Grasshopper

Son of cult movie legend John Carradine and elder brother of Keith and Robert, who have made some cult movies of their own, David Carradine's career has been one of the supreme freelance individual.

He first came to prominence as a stage actor, which led to his screen debut in Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha ('72). Soon after that he turned up as Kwai Chang Caine in what is still one of the most followed TV shows of all time. Between '72 and '75, David Carradine in Kung Fu did more to turn western audiences onto martial arts and eastern philosophy than any one else, including Bruce Lee. I have the theme running through my head as I write this and a clear image of Carradine walking across desert dunes playing his flute.

At the end of Kung Fu's run Carradine went straight into one of the leading cult films of the seventies and leading cult roles in Deathrace 2000 ('75) as Frankenstein, the leather clad racing driver.

His status as one of the great cult actors of all time was secured there and then. His father, one of the great players of Dracula, would have been proud.

He followed that up with his most acclaimed mainstream role as legendary folksinger Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory ('76) and then did top shelf arthouse in Ingmar Bergman's surreal thriller Serpent's Egg.

His next cult landmark wasn't far away when he did Circle of Iron ('78) in which Carradine plays a persona changing martial arts mystic in a film of eastern philosophies and metaphysical symbolism. It's still considered a kung-fu fight fan's pilgrimage film. One must make their way to Circle of Iron and bow before the screen where presides a cross-legged David Carradine charismatically giving out jewels of knowledge to excel in the kicking of butt.

Cult status aside Carradine was never out of

work in mainstream, alternative, film, TV or otherwise. He obviously enjoyed the work and as he was as willing to be a character actor as much as a leading man there were always roles for him in all manner of television and cinema. He was a dude performer in them all. Notable was Walter Hill's The Long Riders where he joined his brothers Keith and Robert as the Younger brothers in the Jesse James gang. He did a particularly fine character performance in that.

A remarkable trait of Carradine's was to transcend the material he was in, no matter how schlocky. His natural charisma in Larry Cohen's cult monster movie Q -The Winged Serpent ('82) moved that to a higher plain. Warrior and the Sorceress ('84) could have been one of the truly bad Conan the Barbarian rip-offs of that time but Carradine turns in a low budgeteer that rivals Arnie's own for entertainment. And what he did for barbarians he did for near future noir and the Blade Runner rip-offs, especially Crime Zone ('88) which was a surprise success almost entirely due to Carradine's likeability. And when vampire movies became trendy he turned up in the sleeper Sundown ('90).

As I said, he worked continually in all sorts of things in all different level of roles, from commercial villains to arthouse support characters. He even returned to the role of Caine for another successful series of Kung Fu in the mid-nineties. But it's thanks to the Kill Bill films that new generations of filmgoers and cult watchers came to be acquainted with the charms and skills of a great cult actor. And, like me, the old school became reacquainted.

David Carradine often played the role of a legend and there is little doubt that he himself will become one. He was a writer, artist, actor, musician, philosopher and martial arts instructor, but most of all he was an icon for his generation.

David Carradine 8th Dec 1936 - 3rd June 2009