David Carradine

A leading and supporting player in television and movies, actor David Carradine rose to fame with his iconic role, Kwai Chang Caine, the half-Asian student of life on the popular TV series, "Kung Fu" (ABC, 1972-75), a role he would go on to reprise for a syndicated series in the late 1990s. The son of legendary actor John Carradine, he excelled at playing villains in action and terror films which, unfortunately, were often relegated to the straight-to-video shelf. Almost as famous as his Kung Fu persona, was his psychedelic lifestyle and devotion to Eastern philosophy, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s when Carradine seemed more engaged in his alternative lifestyle than in furthering his career - with the possible exceptions of his starring role as folk singer Woody Guthrie in the Oscar-nominated "Bound for Glory" (1976) and a turn in Ingmar Bergman's confusing "The Serpent's Egg" (1977). After two decades of relative quiet, Carradine found new life as the titular assassin in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" (2003) and "Kill Bill, Vol. 2" (2004). He went on to recur on the popular series, "Alias" (ABC, 2001-06) and play the head of the Chinese Triad in the action thriller "Crank: High Voltage" (2009). But his resurgence was cut short following a tragic death under unusual circumstances, leaving fans wondering what else the venerable actor might have had in store.