Carradine: An 'Actor's Actor'

David Carradine was “an actor's actor,” Brian Warmoth writes on MTV.com, “a performer who left an indelible mark on everything he did with adeptly conceived roles in even the campiest environments.” Though best known for his '70s role on the TV show Kung Fu and his resurgence in the Kill Bill movies, Carradine has more to recommend him. And, Warmoth writes, he never became “a parody of himself.”

Carradine, whose first big break came in the title role of Shane, "carried on throughout his career as a serious, multi-faceted character actor,” Warmoth says. That includes '60s Westerns like Taggart and a rare honor: Carradine was the only American actor to star in an Ingmar Bergman film, 1977’s The Serpent’s Egg. He "leaves behind a strong legacy which even the most talented entertainer would be hard-pressed to follow.” (More martial arts stories.)