David Carradine

Best known for his work in the 1970s television series Kung Fu and more recently in the movie Kill Bill. Eldest son of legendary character actor John Carradine. He appeared in more than 100 feature films and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award. He starred on Broadway in the play The Royal Hunt of the Sun, for which he won a Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance in 1965. He became widely known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series Kung Fu; he starred in the 1990s spinoff Kung Fu: The Legend Continues as the grandson of his original character. In movies, he starred as ‘Big’ Bill Shelly in Martin Scorsese’s Boxcar Bertha (1972), folksinger Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory (1976), Abel Rosenberg in Ingmar Bergman’s The Serpent’s Egg (1977), and as Bill in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Vols. 1 & 2 (2003, 2004, respectively). Other notable roles included the lead in Shane (the 1966 television series based upon the 1949 novel of the same name) and a gunslinger in Taggart, a 1964 western film based on a novel by Louis L’Amour. More recently, he portrayed Tempus, a powerful demon with the ability to manipulate time, on the popular television series Charmed, as well as Conrad in the television series Alias. Carradine twice played a supernatural being with the power to control time: “Tempus” on Charmed and “Clockwork” on Danny Phantom. He appeared in an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire (in which his half-brother Robert was a series regular), and also provided his voice for the King of the Hill episode, Returning Japanese, in which he voiced the character of Hank’s Japanese half-brother. He provided the voice for Lo Pei, the ancient warrior who was responsible for Shendu’s petrification in the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures. He produced and starred in several exercise videos teaching the martial arts of Tai chi and Qi Gong. He actually had no knowledge of martial arts prior to starring in the series Kung Fu, but developed an interest in it after this experience and became an avid practitioner. He appeared as the host of Wild West Tech on the History Channel, taking over the duties from his brother Keith. He narrated the PBS anthropology series “Faces of Culture”. In 2006, he became the spokesman for Yellowbook, a publisher of independent telephone directories in the United States. He was also the TV spokesperson for Lipton (“This ain’t no sippin’ tea”), in a memorable commercial where he paid homage not only to Kung Fu, but also to the Three Stooges. He also appeared in the music video for “Minus You” by the southern California band Chapel of Thieves, which was co-directed by the YouTube personality Boh3m3. He also worked with the Jonas Brothers in their video Burnin’ Up, playing a Kung Fu Master. In 2009, he played a 100-year-old Chinese gangster in Crank: High Voltage