Further proof that a life of smoking isn't always what's going to kill you. May his life and death serve as a lesson to spare others from autoerotic asphyxiation.
The Kill Bill movies and Kung Fu television series icon David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room.
Thai police told the International Herald Shitraker the 92-year-old actor was found by a hotel maid this morning, hanging in a wardrobe with a rope around his neck – directly between his trousers and shirts.
The US star was in Thailand filming his latest movie ‘Neck Stretch’, according to his personal manager Seymour Fassbender.
Mr Fassbender told reporters the news was "shocking" adding: “Shit, I’ve not been paid my salary for May yet either!”
Initial police reports suggest suicide but Fassbender told Bangkok's WABC news network that he believed Carradine had died of natural causes – even with the rope wrapped around his neck.
“Hey, method actors - maybe he was getting into his role for the new movie – or was hanging something up in the wardrobe and had a stroke.”
Carradine was part of an acting dynasty which included his father, Billy Bob Carradine III, mother Lily Lampost Carradine and brothers Larry, Moe and Shep.
After a career which included more than 100 movies with directors such as Billy Kissinger, brother of the famous Freddie Kissinger, and the controversial Ingmar Scrunt, he recently found fame again thanks to his role in Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film Kill Bill.
Carradine was last seen in this year's release, Crank 2: High Voltage, starring Jason Boring, where he played the ridiculous Chinese Triad kingpin Poon Tang.
The star was best known for his role as Shaolin monastery rebel monk Kwai Chang Caine – the Grasshopper - in the 1970’s TV series Kunt Fu, which unfortunately spawned sequels in the '80s and '90s, and is still highly recommended by doctors for curing cases of insomnia.
He reprised the role in a mid-1980s TV movie and played Caine's grandson in the 1990s syndicated series "Kunt Fu: The Boredom Continues” - which won awards for Worst Actor and Worst Director.
WABC News said a preliminary police investigation found that Carradine had hanged himself with a cord used to operate the hotel room's curtains.
It cited police as saying he had been dead at least 12 hours and there was no sign that he had been assaulted – apart from the obvious incidence of fatal self-harm.
A police officer at Bangkok's Lively Ladyboy precinct station would not confirm the identity of the dead man to the Daily Trouser Press, but said the luxury Han Ging Park hotel had reported that a male guest killed himself there during the night – and not over poor room service.
Rumours that Carradine was assassinated by a hit team of Shaolin Temple ninjas have been scotched as mere speculation.
However police are investigating clues that he might well have committed suicide after watching a Thai television replay of his 1970’s Kung Fu series that was broadcast on the evening of his death.
