David Carradine

From the stage to westerns

The son of actor John Carradine, David Carradine made his TV debut in 1963 and his film debut the following year in Taggart, under contract to Universal. On Broadway he played Atahuallpa in The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964-1965), winning a Theatre World Award. In 1966 he led the TV series Shane, which ended after 17 episodes, then took supporting parts in late-1960s westerns.

Kwai Chang Caine, with no martial arts background

In 1972 ABC launched Kung Fu, in which a half-Chinese Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine, wanders the 19th-century American West. Casting a white actor caused controversy, not least because Bruce Lee's name had come up; how much Lee contributed to the concept is still disputed by his biographers. Carradine had no martial arts training and relied on his dance and stage-fighting experience. Judo specialist David Chow advised on the first half of the run, then Kam Yuen, a master of Tai Mantis kung fu, became consultant, stunt coordinator and the actor's teacher. The show ran three seasons to 1975, earned Carradine Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and, alongside Bruce Lee's films, introduced kung fu to a large Western audience.

He returned as Caine in the TV film Kung Fu: The Movie (1986) and played the character's grandson in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993-1997, 88 episodes). He kept training with Kam Yuen, to whom he dedicated his book The Spirit of Shaolin (1991), and also published Introduction to Chi Kung (1997) and tai chi and qigong instructional videos.

Circle of Iron, Lone Wolf McQuade and genre cinema

On the big screen Martin Scorsese directed him in Boxcar Bertha (1972). He was Frankenstein in Roger Corman's Death Race 2000 (1975) and Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976), earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Drama. Ingmar Bergman cast him in The Serpent's Egg (1977).

Circle of Iron (1978) was built on The Silent Flute, the script Bruce Lee left unmade at his death. Carradine played four roles meant for Lee, including the blind man who guides the hero. In 1983 he faced Chuck Norris in Lone Wolf McQuade as Rawley Wilkes, an arms dealer; the film ends on a long empty-hand fight between the two men. In between he directed, produced and edited Americana (1981).

Bill, the Tarantino comeback

Quentin Tarantino cast him as Bill in Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Volume 2 (2004). The head of the assassination squad dominates the second film, where he falls to the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. Tarantino plays on the Kung Fu image: Bill talks about Pai Mei, the master played by Gordon Liu. The role brought a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a Saturn Award. He died in June 2009; Yuen Woo-ping's True Legend (2010) came out afterwards.

Legacy

Carradine was no fighter and never claimed to be, but Kwai Chang Caine fixed for a generation the image of the calm practitioner who fights only as a last resort. The Martial Arts History Museum inducted him into its Hall of Fame posthumously in 2014. For fight-film fans, three titles sum up his career: Circle of Iron, Lone Wolf McQuade and the two Kill Bill films.