Later in his career, he became known for his B movie and martial arts roles, but experienced a resurgence after playing the title character in Quentin Tarantino 's Kill Bill duology.
Throughout his life, Carradine was arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses, which often involved substance abuse.
In addition to his acting career, Carradine was a director and musician. Influenced by his Kung Fu role, he studied martial arts, particularly Shaolin quan. Carradine was born John Arthur Carradine Jr. His parents divorced and repeatedly remarried; he was born during his mother's second marriage of three, and his father's first of four.
At the time of Carradine's parents' marriage, his mother already had a son by her first husband, whom John Carradine adopted. John Carradine had planned to have a large family, but later he discovered his wife had gotten two abortions without his knowledge, and afterward a miscarriage rendered her unable to carry a baby to term.
Against this backdrop of marital discord, Carradine almost died by suicide [ 14 ] by hanging at the age of five. He said the incident followed his discovery that he and his elder half-brother, Bruce, had different biological fathers.
