David Carradine

His bamboo casket was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Among the many stars and family members that attended his private memorial were Tom Selleck, Lucy Liu, Frances Fisher, James Cromwell, Steve Railsback, and Chris Potter. Read Less

The monument proclaimed him to be "The Barefoot Legend" and included a quote from "Paint", a song he wrote and performed as the theme to Sonny Boy, as an epitaph.

On the first anniversary of his death, Carradine's widow, Annie, announced that she had filed a lawsuit for wrongful death against the company that produced the film that Carradine was working on at the time of his death. The lawsuit claimed that the company failed to provide assistance to the actor that had been agreed upon in his contract. "The suit alleges, the assistant 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." Annie Carradine reached a settlement with MK2 Productions in August 2011. She was erroneously reported to be receiving about $400,000 US from the company for Carradine's death. Also, in June 2010, Marina Anderson, Carradine's fourth ex-wife, published David Carradine: The Eye of My Tornado, a book that discusses intimate details of their marriage. She also claimed publicly that she had conducted her own investigation of his death, and concluded that he was murdered. Read Less

Most of these roles were cameos or small parts in independent, direct to DVD productions. Among them, a horror flick, The Rain (2009), an action film, Bad Cop (2009), and a western, All Hell Broke Loose (2009).

Carradine also appeared in a small role in Woo-Ping Yuen's Chinese kung fu epic True Legend. Carradine and Yuen first met while filming Kill Bill. Yuen eulogized Carradine on the True Legend website, describing him as a "good friend". Yuen said of Carradine, " 'He is among the first Hollywood actors to perform Chinese martial arts on the big screen. In real life he is also a genuine kung fu fan, and knows tai chi, qi gong and Chinese medicine. Same as I, people shall always remember his role as Caine, the grasshopper, in Kung Fu, in the '70s, which was a really unforgettable performance. I feel both great honour and regret that True Legend is one of David Carradine's last works.' " Read Less

The segment, which was described as "eerie" was filmed four months before his own death. In his last of many collaborations with producer Roger Corman, Carradine appeared in the Syfy Channels science fiction monster movie Dinocroc Vs. Supergator, over a year after he died. Ken Tucker, writing for Entertainment Weekly, said the film was "impeccable" and "goofy fun all the way". At the time of this release, there were still four more unreleased films that credited David Carradine, including Stretch, which he was filming at the time of his death.

‎Carradine made his directorial debut on three episodes of Kung Fu. While still performing on Kung Fu, he tried his hand at directing some independent films of his own. Americana (1983), took ten years to complete due to difficulty in financing. It featured Carradine in the starring role and several of his friends and family members in supporting roles. The film won the People's Choice Award at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, but failed to achieve critical support or adequate distribution. Other directorial attempts included You and Me (1975), and two unreleased productions: Mata Hari, an epic that starred his daughter, Calista, and a short musical called A Country Mile. Read Less

He was born John Arthur Carradine in Hollywood, California, the son of Ardanelle "Abigail" (née McCool, 1911–1989) and actor John Carradine. He was a maternal half-brother of Bruce, paternal half-brother of Keith, Christopher and Robert Carradine, and an uncle of Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton. He was the great-grandson of Methodist evangelical author Beverly Carradine and the grandnephew of artist Will Foster.

Affectionately called "Jack" during his childhood years, Carradine's childhood was turbulent. His parents repeatedly re-married. He was the product of his mother's second marriage of three, and his father's first of four. At the time his parents married each other, his mother already had a son, Bruce, by her first husband, whom John adopted. John Carradine planned a large family but, as his son explained in his autobiography, after his wife had a series of miscarriages, he discovered that she had had repeated illegal abortions without his knowledge. This rendered her unable to carry a baby to full term. It was with this backdrop of marital discord that at the age of 5, Jack almost succeeded in committing suicide by hanging. He said that the incident followed his discovery that he and Bruce had different biological fathers. He added that, "My father saved me, and then confiscated my comic book collection and burned it – which was scarcely the point". Read Less