Friday, June 05, 2009

Artist Spotlight David Carridine Dead at 72

I turned on Aol yesterday and was saddened to hear that one of my favorite actors, David Carridine had passed away at age 72. According to the info available now, hw was found nude and hanging,an apparent suicide, in his hotel suite in Thailand.
When Time permits I will do a caricature in his honor.

Carridine, known to this generation as Bill, the enimatic leader of a gang of assassins in Quentin Tarrentino's movie's Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2, but to many fans my age, he will always be known as Kwai Chang Cain, AKA Grasshopper, from the 1970's smash hit series "Kung Fu". Every Thursday night, I'd sit mesmerized in front of my TV set as Kwai Chang dropped pearls of Chinese wisdom on us, and severed up some of the most satisfying kung fu butt kicking that had been ever seen done by a westerner up until that point. Carridine's portrayal of the character, was done with honesty, and humility, and even though he didnt look any where near Chinese, (The original creator of the series, BRUCE LEE, had himself been rejected for the very role he created!!)Carridine made you BELIEVE that he was. He played a non violent, soft spoken character who was not a wuss.
Unknown to many, Carridne was also an ARTIST, which is why he is alson being featured on this blog. To find out more about his art, read about it in his own words by going to his website at

http://www.david-carradine.com/artbio.html

In the days to come That site is going to get a lot of hits. Make sure you're one of the people who checks it out. It's worth the trip.