Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

AP

Thu Jun 4, 10:38 am ET

BANGKOK – Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok. A news report said he was found hanged in his hotel room and was believed to have committed suicide.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He 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 Web site of the Thai newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room.It said Carradine was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and had been staying at the hotel since Tuesday.

The newspaper said Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, and that his body was found by a hotel maid at 10 a.m. Thursday morning. The name of the movie was not immediately available.

It said a preliminary police investigation found that he had hanged himself with a cord used with the room's curtains. It cited police as saying he had been dead at least 12 hours and there was no sign that he had been assaulted.

More at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_en_ce/as_thailand_david_carradine

Suicide at any age is sad, but I wonder if he had received any bad health news lately? RIP

He was heavily involved in the martial arts - hanging is not the method of suicide practiced.

I remember him from "Kung Fu".

in the middle of shooting a film on location

It is odd.

Don

What's the deal with male celebrities hanging themselves?

I don't get it. They're working, have money, life should be good.

RIP to both Davids. So sad.

If he was that pre-disposed, why would he wait until he got all the way to Thailand to hang himself, and not do it at home?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8083479.stm

According to this BBC News article, he was found by the maid with a rope tied around parts of his body. How often does a person hang himself by doing that? That tells me that he was tied up by somebody to prevent movement.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/06/04/headlines/headlines_30104421.php
"It was a hotel's maid who opened his suite on Thursday at 10 am after her repeated knocks on the door were unanswered. She found Carradine in a closet. He was described as behind half naked.
Police said evidence at the scene showed that he hung himself.
"It looks like a suicide," said Pol Col Somprasong Yentuam, chief of Lumpini police. "He was a big man and it would have been difficult for someone to move him in there and kill him in there.'"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8083479.stm
"Thai police told the BBC the 72-year-old was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body."

http://www.tmz.com/2009/06/04/david-carradine-dies-in-bangkok/:
"David's agent told WABC that he believes the actor died of natural causes."

and now this...
"Bangkok newsman ThaiCam says on Twitter "BBC report UNCONFIRMED ... suicide UNLIKELY, per an interview with his longtime friend here." A comment here says: "From what I know about David Carradine both personally and through friends, it would seem to be highly unlikely that he committed suicide by hanging himself."'
http://twitter.com/thaicam/status/2031144374


I mean, if he hanged himself to death, why was the cord wrapped around other parts of his body? And more importantly, why was he found SITTING in a wardrobe closet?

"He was a big man and it would have been difficult for someone to move him in there and kill him in there."


Well, not if he were drugged first by someone putting something in his drink or food. You know, something like GHB.

Did anyone consider that?

what a ridiculous way to go.

Very sad regardless. He's always been one of my favorites.

Although I was puzzled that this white dude was always being called a "chinaman".

He was a good actor, though.

.. yes, that is what I think.

Nobody thinks this guy was suicidal, and people close to him would have known. I think it was an accident.

don't you have to have some kind of apparatus to hang yourself from (yes, I'm naive)

:shrug:

Maybe that's why he was in there. I had a HS friend who died from autoasphyxiation. It does happen.

Well, I guess that makes sense then. He was 72 years old too. Not that his age matters, but damn.

I wondered if it was some kind of auto erotic kind of thing going on and it was an accident. In Thailand??!!??

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090605/ap_on_en_mo/as_carradine_death

BANGKOK – The body of American actor David Carradine, best known for the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu," was found in a hotel room closet with a rope tied to his neck and genitals, and his death may have been accidental suffocation, Thai police said Friday.

Police Lt. Gen. Worapong Chewprecha told reporters that Carradine was found with a rope "tied around his penis and another rope around his neck."

"The two ropes were tied together," he said. "It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not or he died of suffocation or heart failure due to an orgasm."

Definitely not suicide....

:

...:cry:

In fact, he asked me out, but I didn't take him seriously because he was three sheets to the wind and feeling no pain. He wasn't at all obnoxious or rude, as I recall; quite the gentleman even in his cups.

I don't know what happened in Thailand, but the stories being told sound crazy.

Night before last, I watched the movie, The Cowboys in which his brother, Robert, co-starred as 'Slim,' one of the cowboys.

Such a tragic way to die. Saddened to hear about his death.

I will always remember him as "Kung Fu" because that was one of my childhood favorites...It was hard to watch him play such a mean guy in "Kill Bill..."

Sad. Wonder what caused him to commit suicide:(