David Carradine Dead at 72
Kill Bill Star and Kung Fu Actor Was In Bangkok To Shoot Film
Jun 4, 2009
Martial arts expert and actor David Carradine, 72, died Thursday in his luxury hotel room in Thailand. He was in Bangkok to shoot a film. Police said Carradine was found hanged in the closet. It was unclear whether the death was an accident or if he took his own life.
Carradine passed away five years after Quentin Tarantino revived his career and made him a cult figure when he gave him the title roles in Kill Bill - Vol. 1 and Kill Bill - Vol. 2.
It will be some time before a coroner's report details Carradine's cause of death. However, suicides and accidental overdoses are sadly, a frequent occurrence in Hollywood where the lives of young and old alike are snuffed before their time.
Heath Ledger
Acclaimed actor Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose of prescription medications including painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills, on January 22, 2008 at an apartment in Lower Manhattan. The medical examiner's office found that Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine.
The Oscar-nominated Australian actor, best known for his role as a closeted cowboy in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, was 28. Hydrocodone and oxycodone are painkillers. Diazepam is an anti-anxiety drug commonly sold under the brand name Valium; alprazolam is also an anti-anxiety drug sold under such names as Xanax. Temazepam, sold under such names as Restoril and Euhypnos, is a sleeping agent. Doxylamine, an antihistamine, can be obtained over the counter as a sleep aid.
Phil Hartman
Comedian Phil Hartman, was shot to death in his sleep by his wife, Brynn, on May 28, 1998 in Encino. His wife later committed suicide. Hartman started out at the Groundlings Theater, then joined Saturday Night Live (where he did an outrageously hilarious impression of President Bill Clinton). Then he landed the role of bombastic radio newsman Bill McNeal on the TV sitcom NewsRadio. He was 49.
Kurt Cobain
Singer Kurt Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, Washington on April 8, 1994. Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, had recently checked out of a drug rehab facility and been reported suicidal by his wife, Courtney Love. Cobain was found with a shotgun across his body, had a visible head wound and a suicide note was nearby. The King County Medical Examiner noted that there were puncture wounds on the inside of both the right and left elbow. The Seattle Police Department investigated, and after an autopsy by the King County Coroner's Office, Cobain's death was ruled a suicide by a single gunshot wound to the head.
Herve Villechaize
In North Hollywood Hervé Villechaize, the 3-foot, 11-inch actor who played the hoarse-voiced character, Tattoo, Mr. Rourke's (Ricardo Montalban) small assistant on the original TV series Fantasy Island shot himself to death on the backyard patio of his home in North Hollywood, on Sept. 4, 1993. He had been ill for some time. He was cremated, and his ashes scattered at sea.
River Phoenix
On Halloween night, 1993, River Phoenix, 23, died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine outside The Viper Room in West Hollywood. The star of Stand By Me, and brother of Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator) collapsed on the sidewalk outside the club and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai hospital.
