David Carradine Kung Fu Series Views

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David Carradine (December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009),[5][6][7] born John Arthur Carradine, was an American character actor, best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu[1] and its 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was a member of a productive acting family dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific B movie actor,[7] he appeared in more than 100 feature films[8] and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award.[9] The last nomination was for his title role in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

For three seasons, David Carradine starred as a half-Chinese, half-Caucasian Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine, on the ABC hit TV series Kung Fu (1972–1975) and was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award[9] for the role. The show, which took place in the Old West , helped to popularize the martial arts and Eastern philosophy in the west and immortalized the character of Kwai Chang Caine, also referred to as Grasshopper , in popular culture.

Although the choice of a Caucasian to play the role of Kwai Chang Caine stirred controversy, the show served as steady employment for several Asian-American actors in the U.S.[30] In addition to Keye Luke and Philip Ahn, who held leading roles in the cast as Caine's Shaolin masters, Robert Ito, James Hong, Benson Fong, Richard Loo, and Victor Sen Yung frequently appeared in the series. Kung Fu ended when Carradine quit to pursue a movie career, but he reprised the role of Kwai Chang Caine in 1986 in Kung Fu: The Movie. Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, in his acting debut, portrayed his son.

Immediately following the Kung Fu series, Carradine accepted the role as the race car driver Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975), he said, to kill the image of Caine and launch a movie career ,[31] The Roger Corman exploitation film became a cult classic. It was based on Ib Melchior's first science fiction work, a short story called The Racer.[32]