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David Carradine -- Suicidal Tendencies

Posted Jun 4th 2009 11:50AM by TMZ Staff

David CarradineIt's become painfully clear that David Carradine had wrestled with suicidal thoughts long before this morning's tragedy.

In a 2004 interview dug up by the Telegraph Newspaper, the 72-year-old actor revealed that he once considered shooting himself, saying: "Look, there was a period in my life when I had a single action Colt 45, loaded, in my desk drawer.

And every night I'd take it out and think about blowing my head off, and then decide not to and go on with my life. Put it back in the drawer and open up the laptop and continue writing my autobiography or whatever. But it was just to see."

But there's more -- Carradine, who was also a musician, released a song on his website called Big Mack Truck, about a man who considers ending his life by walking into traffic. Here are some of the lyrics:

Does anyone know where I'm going ... does anyone here really care?

David Carradine: Click to listenIf I walk myself on a highway ... would that big mac truck be there?

Big mack truck .. big mack truck ... bearin' down on me.

Big mack truck on a highway .. oh say can you see ... can you see ... can you see?



Tags: david carradine, DavidCarradine, suicide

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61. Have you people lost your minds? David Carradine did not kill himself because of anything you would understand. Not because of young boys, not because of what he ate....... He was ready to go and that's the beauty of being a human being you have a mind to think, a mind to make your own decisions with. Don't let the media stir you up so much. We will never really know what he thought in his last moments, nor should we care that's speculation. If he brought you joy with his work be thankful. God bless you David Carridine thank you for the things you shared with us. You will be missed and remembered. Hopefully people won't spend to much time speculating on why,

Posted at 4:21PM on Jun 4th 2009 by Scott W Clark

62. LIARS LYING LIARS! DAVID CARRADINE DID NOT KILL HIMSELF

Posted at 5:00PM on Jun 4th 2009 by !

63. It could have been any of the main three possibilities that everyone is speculating about... suicide, murder, kinky...who knows?

Posted at 6:19PM on Jun 4th 2009 by Rex Cox

64. Autoerotic asphyxia. Naked in a closet with a belt around your neck? If he was murdered tho the first person I would question is Uma Thurman

Posted at 6:48PM on Jun 4th 2009 by wanker

65. It is written that Kung Fu is the best TV show ever! He will be missed.

Posted at 6:03PM on Jun 4th 2009 by Anna Warhola

66. hmmmmm Bangkok - sex capital of the world, nude in the closet with a rope around his neck and "other" parts of his body, he is quoted in his autobiography as having a "very Healthy labido". Yup, sounds like an accident to me.... Oh wait, and who can help but remember his role in Sonny Boy.

Posted at 6:13PM on Jun 4th 2009 by gizmo

67. This is really strange timing for him to do this, considering he was in Thailand working on a movie...

Posted at 6:13PM on Jun 4th 2009 by Violet

68. Apparently some people on this site don’t know how to read. They are saying that TMZ is claiming David wanted to kill himself with a Mac truck, but it doesn’t say that anywhere in the article. What is says is David had some past suicidal thoughts. Which he did, this is not the first time I heard the story about the gun in his desk drawer. They added the song lyrics because the song is about a man contemplating suicide. That doesn’t mean anyone is saying that is how David wanted to go. They are simply saying, it is further proof that he thought about suicide. You people have no comprehension of what you read, I swear….

Posted at 6:44PM on Jun 4th 2009 by SGV

69. Okay, I'm pissed by all of you ignorant Americans here, claiming Bangkok as dangerous for Westerners. David Carradine was KNOWN here from Kill Bill, and to a further extent, Kung Fu. He stayed in the top-class hotel with top-class security. Nobody would hate him enough to kill him, and if they wanted to, they must go past the guards first. Also, with ropes tying to his neck and genitals, it was too weird of a death to be a suicide.

So, what's the possible cause? Auto-erotic asphyxiation most likely. As much as I respect the guy, I don't know what he's into sexually. Accidents can happen with such a play, and he was not the first one.

Stop saying that Bangkok is a dangerous place. It's not. If you have never go there, then you have learned nothing. Don't speak of things you don't know from behind the monitor screen at your home in America. Just... Shut up.

Posted at 6:24PM on Jun 4th 2009 by A Bangkokian

70. RIP...a formidable actor whose loss is poignant.
amen to your comments, person from bangkok - people are too assumptive - and besides, it really does sound like it was probably an autoerotic asphyxiation accident; whomever he was with probably took off so as to not be booked for murder/manslaughter.
a shame...but at least, hopefully, he died happy...

Posted at 6:36AM on Jun 5th 2009 by dvm2010

71. From the Kung Fu television series -

Master: When does the pebble's journey end?

Young Kwai Chang Caine: Upon hitting the water?

Master: Does not the pebble set off ripples that reach to the farthest part of the pond?

Or my favorite Kwai Chang Caine line that I used many times in school: "I seek not to know all the answers but only to fully understand the questions." Got detention for that once.

Posted at 6:43PM on Jun 4th 2009 by Grasshopper

72. I acted with David in Kung Fu. He was a really great guy ... he spoke of his beloved American Beatles ... The Eagles. He was a true California icon ... a real Malibu guy. David's father John Carradine appeared in so many black and white horror movies. David told me that his father would scare the hell of both he and Keith at night when he would come home in character!

Posted at 6:43PM on Jun 4th 2009 by MACDONALDBANK1

73. I acted with David in Kung Fu. He was a really great guy ... he spoke of his beloved American Beatles ... The Eagles. He was a true California icon ... a real Malibu guy. David's father John Carradine appeared in so many black and white horror movies. David told me that his father would scare the hell of both he and Keith at night when he would come home in character!

Posted at 7:34PM on Jun 4th 2009 by MACDONALDBANK1

74. R.I.P. David,

So many of us enjoyed his work, seems very few knew of his self-hurting demons which plagued him throughout most of his personal life over decades. I don't say these things any other way than with caring as his character in the Kung Fu series in coordination with an accidental book discovery exposing me to the Tao Te Ching forever changed my life to accept life as a modern Taoist and would provide me with the keys to life which I have now had the opportunity to pass on to my growing son. It is so ironic to see David play the character of a Shaolin Monk but never quite embracing the life of a Taoist in his own personal life.

I pass no judgment on David as David always took responsibility for his own life: successes and failures. Long live Kwai Chang Caine and may David rest in peace.

For you DVD buffs out there please see if you can find and rent David's 1978 movie 'Circle of Iron' and have tearful chuckle enjoying David work once more.

Posted at 7:18PM on Jun 4th 2009 by Pal

75. I have empathy for anybody that feels so truly hopless that suicide is the only way out. I hope DC finds peace. HOWEVER, if your mind is in a place where you don't want to live anymore, don't take it out on everyone else around you!! That poor maid! Minimum wage and she has to put up with this crap?? What about the truck driver in the song DC wrote - yes you are miserable, but you are going to freak out a poor truck driver - plus probably have the deceased family sue him?! Suicide is horribly sad - but don't expect sympathy when you did give a crap about those you "take with you".

Posted at 7:08PM on Jun 4th 2009 by Seriously?

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