Saddened by the death of actor David Carradine, I’ve been wanting to post something about him but I’ve been unable to get a handle on what I wanted to say. The “perversity” surrounding the manner of his death doesn’t really interest me… and it’s too bad that so many people are focusing on that aspect, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Actors like Carradine–geniunely weird, eccentric, volatile, and frequently great–are a dying breed. Back when I was eleven or twelve, I came into possession of a treasure trove of Playboy magazines and read an article on Carradine back when he was still riding that post-Kung Fu wave. I don’t recall specifically what it was in the piece that freaked me out, but I remember being shocked by how untamed and unpolished he came across, shattering my tiny mind regarding how I thought actors were supposed to behave away from the cameras. Of course, if you can’t deliver on talent to balance out the wildness, then you’re just out-of-control. Carradine delivered.
Anyway… here’s a link to a piece on David Carradine that pretty much sums up (more eloquently) what I think as well.
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