Hollywood Celebs Gossips

Kung Fu star David Carradine was found dead in Swissotel Nai Lert Park hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. He was 72 years old.

Kung Fu star David Carradine (1936-2009) Photo (© lukeford.net)

Carradine was in Thailand to shoot his new movie, Stretch. Thai police said David Carradine died from apparent suicide, he was discovered Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room.  ABC 7 is reporting Carradine’s agent confirmed his death this morning.

Details from BNO News:

Carradine had been in Bangkok since Tuesday to shoot an upcoming movie. Officials say Carradine did not show up when he and his film crew were supposed to dine at a restaurant in the Thai capital on Wednesday, but they assumed he took a break because of his age.

On Thursday, at around 10 a.m., a hotel maid opened his suite and found the star hanging in a closet. According to reports, he was described as being half naked. There were no signs of a struggle.

His agent confirmed to KABC-TV that Carradine had died, but said he believed the star died of natural causes.

Update: David Carradine may not have commit suicide, his death probably was accidental as the report said he might have practiced auto-eroticism asphyxiation:

…. but officials now believe he may have died from accidental suffocation or heart failure due to an orgasm. Thai police say suicide has not been ruled out either.

Officials told reporters that the actor was found naked, curled up inside the wardrobe with one end of a shoelace tied around his penis and the other end fastened around his neck. Both of his hands were bound with a cord which was also tied around his neck.

It is believed Carradine died some 12 to 24 hours before he was found by the hotel maid. The head of the autopsy division at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital called his death “abnormal”, but did not elaborate, according to local media.

Pornthip Rojanasunan, director of the Central Forensic Medicine Institute, told newspaper The Nation that the circumstances indicate that Carradine’s death might have been an attempt at auto-eroticism asphyxiation. The term refers to a person intentionally cutting off oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal. Rojanasunan said his death matched four indicators as he was a man, the body was naked, the sex organ was tied and the dead “appeared to have sexual deviation,” he said.

Forensic experts have also reportedly found a footprint on the bed which did not match the shoes worn by the actor, the Bangkok Post reported. There was also a glass of water in the room and experts are checking to see if the drink had been tampered with. It is unclear if a second person was with him in the room when he died.

Carradine’s manager, however, told CNN’s Larry King that he had been told “there was foul play” involved. He initially said he died from natural causes.

Update 2: David Carradine might be murdered.

Carradine’s rep claimed the actor’s hands were tied behind his back when his body was found, refuses to accept suicide or accident as cause of death. [Bumpshack.com]

David Carradine was born John Arthur Carradine in Hollywood, California. Carradine is the eldest son of actor John Carradine and ex-wife Ardanelle McCool Abigail. He studied drama at San Francisco State University before working as an actor on stage as well as in television and cinema. He changed his given name to David after starting his career.

David Carradine was a prolific actor. He appeared in more than 200 television series and movies. Carradine was best known for his roles as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series Kung Fu.

Among many of his other acting credits include as ‘Big’ Bill Shelly in Boxcar Bertha (1972), folksinger Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory (1976), Abel Rosenberg in The Serpent’s Egg (1977), and as Bill in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, (2003 and 2004).

David Carradine was survived by wife Annie Bierman, whom he married with in Malibu in 2005. Our sincere condolence to his family.

Links: David Carradine Biography @ IMDB,  Obituary: David Carradine @ BBC, David Carradine Wikipedia