David Carradine!

[Songshan]

I loved the old Kung Fu series. I was quite young when it was out. It was probably one of my most earliest martial art influences and sparked my interest from karate to CMA, particularly Shaolin.

David Carradine has had constant struggles from what I understand. He is honest and open about them. I watched a special on him one night on "E" television. They did a biography on him. He has had some problems and at one point he was too caught up in the character he played in the Kung Fu series.

I did read some articles that he was studying martial arts now even though he never really had a martial arts background.

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by Dim Wit Mak
When I think of the people who have been springboards for the popularity of the martial arts, I think of him, Bruce Lee and Count Dante.

Count Dante? Sheeesh.

[Dim Wit Mak]

MasterKiller: I can certainly understand your "Sheeesh". John Keehan certainly had some problems, and will always be infamous for the Chicago Dojo Wars where he got one of his best friends killed. But the fact of the matter is, the guy could really fight. Thousands of kids joined the Black Dragon Fighting Society and learned stuff like "Monkey steals a peach." He was a pioneer in mixing martial arts, and is a legend to some. Anytime a person has to deal with a talented, aggressive person who perhaps has a few loose screws, they have a major problem on their hands. He has had a major impact on the martial arts.

[MasterKiller]

Whatever.

[Ikken Hisatsu]

meh carradines a ****ing poser. he had only heard the term kung fu twice when he started on that kung fu series. ask him how he feels about being a twat faced chump.

[The Willow Sword]

could any of you be so successful as he in the Martial arts FILM industry? i have spoken with Carradine as well(about his role in Circle of iron;another role that Lee was supposed to play but died before he could be in the film) and carradine seemed to be a decent fellow. but you know he is an actor,,,,so whats the big fukin deal? he was a gymnist and did some light weight boxing before he got into films,,he got trained for movie martial arts and decided to stick with it. he capitolized on the MA craze in the 70's and thats that.

sheesh, cant a guy make a livin' without being burned at the stake?

Peace, TWS

[SanSoo Student]

I just feel people should know his other side, I mean everyone is making him into some sort of Saint in the development of Kung Fu in the United States. Especially in IKF magazine, I mean he did help make Kung Fu known...I'll give him that.

I will give him respect as a MA actor...I'm just trying to be an @ss and give him a hard time

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by The Willow Sword
could any of you be so successful as he in the Martial arts FILM industry? i have spoken with Carradine as well(about his role in Circle of iron;another role that Lee was supposed to play but died before he could be in the film) and carradine seemed to be a decent fellow. but you know he is an actor,,,,so whats the big fukin deal? he was a gymnist and did some light weight boxing before he got into films,,he got trained for movie martial arts and decided to stick with it. he capitolized on the MA craze in the 70's and thats that.

sheesh, cant a guy make a livin' without being burned at the stake?

There is certainly a difference between making a living at something and exploiting something. Carradine has exploited and pimped his role as Cain since that show was cancelled. I mean, you don't see the guys from Starsky and Hutch in cop magazines or the Duke boys at Nascar events. He's been swinging from the nuts of that TV show for too long and has deluded himself into thinking he was somehow the vehicle for Chinese arts to spread in America. He thinks he's a cultural icon when in fact he's just a B-level actor with no range so he's trying to hang on to a TV show America outgrew a long time ago.

[yutyeesam]

...and he makes RAD Tai Chi videos. Almost as good as Bob Klein's, sans the moustache.

[Gargoyle again]

Carradine has been a mixed bag over the years. I'd characterize him as getting bitten by his own ego/bravado at times, but overall I believe he has a serious love and knowledge of the martial arts, and he has had a huge benefit to martial arts awareness. It is very hard to distinguish and separate the actor from the martial-artist from the braggart from the scholar in his case.

Personally, he was a huge influence for me from his "Kung Fu" series and early movies in getting me fascinated with kung fu. He's a working actor, which means he's done his fair share of garbage movies/tv to earn a living, but his good works will live on far beyond his bad.

Garg

[David Jamieson]

The guy is an actor who dabbles in the martial arts, unlike Bruce lee who was a martial artist that dabbled in acting.

Carradine certainly influenced an army of slow speaking fortune cookie spouters to be sure, but i think that had a lot to do with alcoholism.

Anyway, he's not someone I would listen to if I am looking for solid tactical information. Heck, I wouldn't even give him that much time for his esoteric ponderings in that regards.

Just a soup of mixed metaphors, combos of judeo-chritianity fleshed out with taoist concepts and a confucian or buddhist ideal tossed in to the mix at an attempt for authenticity. In other words, and in my opinion, total hogwash. lol

For all he's said to have done for popularizing martial arts, he has also severly damaged their credibility with his cheesy ruminations.

cheers

[Fen]

I would NOT like to meet david carradine again. He was very RUDE at the time I met him at Sifu Kam Yuen's in LA.

When I think of the people who have been springboards for the popularity of the martial arts, I think of him, Bruce Lee and Count Dante.

Like PRC with wushu, bruce lee and the jkd/mma world, david carradine did more to hurt CMA then he did good. IMO

~Jason