I wonder if he'll remember me in his will?

[captain_slinky]

David Carradine, DEAD!

Sure he was one of the all-time great B-movie actors (Deathrace 2000, Kill Bill, etc) and sure he was a television icon (Kung Fu)... but to me, David Carradine will always be The Guy I Broke The Law For.

It was November 2001. The Mid-Ohio Comic Con is Columbus, Ohio. I was a volunteer there. My job was to stand by the fire exit and say "Sorry, buddy, you'll have to go out through the main doors" because I guess that if somebody were to go out one of these side doors it would have caused a fire (hence the name "Fire Door"). The Convention organizer had briefed us all about how it was some sort of State or Federal law to allow people to go through the doors or something, I pretty much glazed over the whole thing in favor of assuming that opening the door would ignite a fire.

So there i was, standing there reading a copy of SHAZAM from 1983 which had only cost me 50 cents (WHAT A BARGAIN) when I felt in icy cold chill run down my spine. I imagine it's the same streak of fear that one would feel if they were being stalked by an unknown predator in the deepest parts of a jungle. Like a panther or a tiger or a crab-faced alien. It was creepy. I looked up from my comic book and scanned the room.

From accross the room I saw him; DAVID CARRADINE WAS STARRING AT ME. I figured it was just a weird coincidence, like he was scanning the room and I was scanning the room and then our eyes met and then we'd break eye contact and be done with it... but NO! HE STARTED WALKING TOWARDS ME! EYES LOCKED WITH MINE!!!

He came right up to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said "Hey man, I need to catch a smoke, you mind if I..?" and he then went right through the door that I was protecting.

No flames *phew*!

I think I may have said something like "Of course Mr. Carradine" or even something clever like "I got your back, Kwai Chang!", but most likely I probably just went "Eeep!" and peed myself a little bit.

Comments

[lynna12000.livejournal.com]

When I first read the headline, I thought it was a joke. Kwai Chang Caine, Dead? By his own hand? Never! Grasshopper would never do such a dark deed!

I remember watching Kung-Fu when I was a kid and thinking it was sooo cool. No matter how or why he died, it's still a sad thing. He will be missed.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I figure there must have been an epic battle of good and evil in that hotel room, and the only way to truly defeat the evil was to kill himself and rob The Evil of a victory.