Actor David Carradine hung at Nai Lert hotel in Bangkok on Thursday June 4, 2009.
Location :: Downtown Bangkok, just off Wireless Road (embassy road) by Canal
Hotel Description : Swissotel Nai Lert Park 5-star luxury hotel in Bangkok, Swissotel Nai Lert Park has eight-acre tropical garden.
338 luxurious guest room
(AP) - A news report said he was found hanged in his hotel room and was believed to have committed suicide. A police officer at Bangkok's Lumpini precinct station would not confirm the identity of the dead man, but said the luxury Nai Lert Park hotel had reported that a male guest killed himself there.
(Reuters) - Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s US television show "Kung Fu," was found naked and hanging dead from a rope in the closet of his luxury Bangkok hotel room Thursday
(la times) - The actor, who made more than 100 films over a more than 40-year career, was found dead on June 3 in his hotel room in Bangkok, where he had been on location shooting a movie. Details remain murky. Police reported that the actor had been found by a hotel maid, dead in a wardrobe with a rope around his neck and body. But Carradine's manager said the actor had died of natural causes.
(AP) - Carradine was found dead Thursday in Thailand. The 72-year-old actor appeared to have hanged himself in a suite at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel, said Lt. Teerapop Luanseng, the officer responsible for investigating the death. "I can confirm that we found his body, naked, hanging in the closet," Teerapop said. He said police were investigating and suspected suicide, though one of his managers questioned that theory. (By GRANT PECK)
(AP) - A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, said the embassy was informed by Thai authorities that Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday morning.
(The Nation) - Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, and that his body was found by a hotel maid Thursday morning. It said a preliminary police investigation found that he had hanged himself with a curtain cord and there was no sign that he had been assaulted. Police said Carradine's body was taken to a hospital for an autopsy that would be done Friday.
(AP) - Dr. Nanthana Sirisap, director of Chulalongkorn Hospital's Autopsy Center, told reporters that the autopsy was being conducted because of "unusual circumstances surrounding Carradine's death." He did not elaborate on the circumstances, and could not say when results would be released.
(AP) - Aurelio Giraudo, the hotel's general manager, said Carradine checked into the hotel May 31 and he last saw him June 3. He said Carradine chatted with staff and even played piano a few nights in the lobby as well as flute which the "guests really enjoyed."
"I was a fan. I had a very nice talk with him when he checked in," Giraudo told The Associated Press. "He was very much a person full of life. I mentioned to him that I had seen (the movie) "Crank" with my family and that was the last smile he gave me."
Giraudo said a chambermaid discovered Carradine's body, adding that she knocked and entered after there was no response. Police arrived shortly thereafter. Somprasong said there was no evidence there was anyone else in the room at the time of Carradine's death.
(Bangkok Post) - US film celebrity may have died while self-indulging in erotic sex, police said, as investigations continued into the bizarre death of the star of Kung Fu.
(Bangkok Post) - American actor David Carradine might have died from auto-erotic asphyxiation, Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) director Porntip Rojanasunan said on Friday morning. The 72-year-old actor's body was found inside a closet in his suite in Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel about 11am on Thursday. One end of a shoelace was tied around his penis and the other end fastened around his neck, while his hands were bound with a cord which was also tied around his neck.
He could have been be trying auto-erotic asphyxiation and may have suffocated during the act, Kunying Porntip said. She said other evidence supporting this theory included a penis shrine inside his room. She did not believe anyone else was involved, but admitted she could not be 100 per cent sure.
(The Nation Multimedia) - Thai police said he may have committed suicide. "There is no trace of fighting in the hotel room and the room was locked from inside. There is no sign of bruising on his body," police said. Police said they were investigating from where he obtained the rope because it seems it was not from the hotel.
(The Nation Multimedia) - The USA embassy, on behalf of his family, told police that they did not question the cause of the death of the "Kung Fu" actor. However, the embassy has questioned what they called "a violation of privacy", as the Thai media was informed of the details relating to the star's death.
(The Nation Multimedia) - witnesses said that Carradine had some drinks at the lobby bar of the hotel where he was staying on Wednesday night. Carradine, whose body was found hanging in a wardrobe in his suite on Thursday, left the bar at about 9pm, witnesses said. A security guard of the hotel accompanied Carradine to the lift. A record of his room key card showed that he entered the room at 9pm. There was no record indicating that he left the room thereafter. The police investigation showed no evidence to support a theory that Carradine was murdered, he said. Police found only one glass on the table in the room with no other fingerprints on it. However, the police have not yet ruled out the murder theory. A housekeeper who found Carradine's body told police that she knocked the door of his suite at about 11am and no one answered.
(Reuters) - “This certainly was not a natural cause of death,” Nantana Sirisap, the chief coroner. Friday, June 5
(New York Times) - Col. Somprasong Yenthuam, who is leading the police investigation, said: “The question is, Did he kill himself or did someone kill him? This is what I’ve been asked to investigate.” Friday, June 5
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Carradine had flown to Thailand last week and began work on "Stretch" two days before his death, Smith said. He had several other projects lined up after the action film, which was being directed by Charles De Meaux with Carradine in the lead. Carradine was "in good spirits" when he left the U.S. for Thailand on May 29 to work on "Stretch," - Tiffany Smith, of Binder & Associates, Carradine's management company
"We're just waiting for them to finish the investigation and find out what really happened. He really appreciated everything life has to give ... and that's not something David would ever do to himself." - Tiffany Smith, of Binder & Associates
Compliments
In his most iconic role, Kwai Chang Caine, the philosophy-spouting, butt-kicking hero of ABC's drama "Kung Fu" (1972-75), he played a half-Chinese man who was raised by Shaolin monks. On the lam in the American Old West, in search of his half-brother, Caine (like his biblical namesake) was a man divided against himself: a soft-spoken, flute-playing martial arts demon; a wandering loner who reached deep into prairie folks' souls by uttering Zen-like paradoxes.
(la times)
The Tao of Kung Fu #5 - "What happens is already written"
In this clip from the pilot episode, Caine (David Carradine) is discussing life with a fellow expatriate. Their discussion touches on the unity of opposites, which is symbolised in Taoism as the yin-yang.
Caine also compares the Tao with water in this conversation. Water is a great analogy for the Tao since all life depends on water, yet water always takes the lowest position. Water would rather take the easy path around a mountain, than to force it's way through. Nothing is softer than water, but given enough time water will wear down the hardest rock and cut the deepest ravines.
Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) - a nature loving Shaolin priest, knows to speak soft but is no pushover. He lived humbly yet knew great contentment.
(AP) - A news report said he was found hanged in his hotel room and was believed to have committed suicide. A police officer at Bangkok's Lumpini precinct station would not confirm the identity of the dead man, but said the luxury Nai Lert Park hotel had reported that a male guest killed himself there.
