One of My Major Early Influences - David Carradine - Found Dead at Age 72
June 04, 2009
Well this is bad news. David Carradine influenced me strongly, as a teenager fascinated by the martial arts and the philosophy of the Kung Fu TV show. It was because of this show, and the emergence of Bruce Lee, that I began my kung-fu journey nearly 36 years ago.
Read the Associated Press account of Carradine's death. Speculation is suicide. Read the A.P. story here.
Now that is truly sad news ... I loved the Kung Fu series which helped me get inspired enough to begin martial art training again, after getting out of the military. :(
Posted by: jim criscimagna | June 04, 2009 at 08:33 AM
Yeah, Bruce Lee gets most of the credit for lighting the kung-fu fire in America, but before he hit it big, we were watching Grasshopper on TV. Carradine was always a bit flaky in his personal life (he once told Inside Kung-Fu that he had been possessed by Bruce Lee's spirit) but that show was really advanced for its time.
As someone who grew up in the Bible Belt, I had never encountered that type of philosophy and it caused a real paradigm shift in my thinking.
And it was always fun to see what happened after some rough cowboy started yelling "Hey CHINAMAN!" :))
Posted by: Ken | June 04, 2009 at 08:43 AM