So Sad

[poliphilo]

I was the wrong age for Kung Fu. It came out in the early days of my first marriage- when I was training for the church and living- without a TV- in boho poverty- but the message filtered through: David Carradine was really, really cool.

But what an uncool way to die!  And what a shadow it casts backwards. Seventy year old men who've been on the beer all day really need to be more careful what they get up to in their hotel rooms.

How does it work exactly?  How does starving your brain of oxygen make you anything but ill? And yet I remember being told in the playground that hanged men often die with erections. I dismissed it at the time as an urban myth- but maybe it's true. Can anyone explain the physiology?

I saw Carradine in a couple of movies. The Serpent's Egg is arguably the worst movie in the Bergman canon;  Carradine is out of his depth in it- and gives a wooden performance.  Kill Bill divides the critics; I happen to love it- and I love Carradine's charming, charismatic  performance; it left me wondering why he'd never quite made it to the top.

And now we'll never be able to watch him without thinking of him in that cupboard with the rope wrapped round his neck and -er-"other parts of his body".  Silly, old fool.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yes. That's exactly the information I wanted.

I get the impression- from reading the obituaries- that Carradine was always a bit of a wild child- which could be why his film career was so erratic- that he lacked discipline and was prone to unprofessional- even self-destructive- behaviour.

One of the reports I read said the surveillance cameras show that no-one but Carradine himself entered that hotel room, which- unless we're in Agatha Christie land- rules out murder.

[mamarose.livejournal.com]

I have a hunch that some of the details regarding what happened are being withheld from the public. It is pretty common for that to happen with high profile and unusual deaths. I'm glad the FBI is likely to look into it just to be sure but you are right, security cameras are pretty accurate.

It really is a shame that he went this route, when other options for such a thrill were available to him.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It is a shame.

It's a silly, undignified way to go.

But better- all ways round- than suicide.