The body of US actor David Carradine, best known for the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, was found in a hotel room closet with a rope tied to his neck and genitals, and his death may have been caused by accidental suffocation, Thai police said yesterday.
The 72-year-old actor's body was discovered on Thursday in his luxury suite at Bangkok's Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel. Police initially said they suspected suicide, but Carradine's associates had questioned that theory.
Police Lieutenant General Worapong Chewprecha told reporters that Carradine was found with a rope tied around his genitals and another rope around his neck.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The two ropes were tied together,” he said. “It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not, or he died of suffocation or heart failure.”
Thai police completed an autopsy on Carradine yesterday. But police Colonel Somprasong Yenthuam, superintendent of the Lumpini police station, which is handling the case, said results would not be ready for at least three weeks because the cause of death was unclear. He called the time lag “normal.”
Nanthana Sirisap, director of Chulalongkorn Hospital's Autopsy Center, told reporters that the autopsy was conducted because of the “unusual circumstances surrounding Carradine's death,” but did not elaborate.
Police Lieutenant Teerapop Luanseng said on Thursday that Carradine's body was found “naked, hanging in a closet,” and that police at the time suspected suicide.
But one of Carradine's managers dismissed the theory.
“All we can say is, we know David would never have committed suicide,” said Tiffany Smith of Binder & Associates, his management company. “We're just waiting for them to finish the investigation and find out what really happened. He really appreciated everything life has to give ... and that's not something David would ever do to himself.”
Carradine had flown to Thailand last week and began work on a film titled Stretch two days before his death, Smith said. He had several other projects lined up after the action film, which was being directed by Charles De Meaux.
Carradine was in good spirits when he left the US for Thailand on May 29 to work on Stretch, Smith said.
“David was excited to do it and excited to be a part of it,” she said by telephone from Beverly Hills.
Filming began on Tuesday, she said, adding that the crew was devastated by Carradine's death and did not wish to speak publicly about it for the time being.
Aurelio Giraudo, the hotel's general manager, said Carradine checked into the hotel on Sunday and he last saw him on Wednesday. He said Carradine chatted with staff and even played piano a few nights in the lobby.
“I was a fan. I had a very nice talk with him when he checked in,” Giraudo said. “He was very much a person full of life.”
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS