US actor David Carradine may have accidentally hanged himself while performing a dangerous sex act, British newspapers report.
Carradine, star of 1970s TV series Kung Fu and the Kill Bill movies, was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room yesterday in what Thai police initially said was a suicide, but now suspect to be a tragic mishap.
Police said 72-year-old Carradine was found with lengths of cord wrapped around his neck and other parts of his body, including his genitals.
The revelations have prompted speculation the actor died while attempting erotic asphyxiation, a practice that causes sexual arousal by depriving the brain of oxygen.
"A rope was attached to his neck and also to his penis," a police officer was quoted in The Sun as saying.
Earlier, local media reported Carradine was found "half-naked" by a maid at the upmarket Nai Lert Park hotel.
The US embassy in the Thai capital confirmed the death of Carradine, who was in Thailand to shoot a film called Stretch.
"He was found in his hotel room in Bangkok but the cause of death has not yet been established," an embassy official told AFP.
Carradine's manager Chuck Binder described the death as "accidental".
Police said Carradine's body was found around 11:30am local time yesterday (2.30pm AEST) hanging by his neck in the closet of his hotel room.
An initial report suggested he had been dead at least 12 hours.
Local police officer Pirom Janthapirom said security cameras showed no-one else going in or out of Carradine's room.
"There is no trace of fighting in the hotel room and the room was locked from inside," he said, adding there was no sign of bruising on the deceased's body.
"We are investigating from where he got the rope because it does not seem it was from the hotel", and all of the actor's personal belongings "were intact", Pirom said.
Subsequent reports stated it appeared Carradine had used cord taken from curtains in his room.
The producer of Stretch, French firm MK2, said the death came just three days before the end of filming for the movie.
"The Carradine family is devastated by the news of David's passing," said Julie Nathanson, a spokeswoman for the actor?s agency.
"There will be no further comment until more information can be confirmed."
Mr Binder paid tribute to the actor, telling the BBC: "He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person."
Carradine was the son of prominent actor John Carradine and part of an acting family that includes brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine.
He was born on December 8, 1936, during Hollywood's Golden Age of cinema, though he first entered showbusiness through musical theatre on New York's Broadway.
While best known for his role as the fugitive half-Chinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV drama Kung Fu, Carradine had a long a varied career in film.
He appeared in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha in 1972, and played legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie in the 1976 film Bound for Glory, which gained him a Golden Globe nomination.
The following year, director Ingmar Bergman called on Carradine to play a wandering out-of-work American Jew in poverty-struck Weimar Germany, for the movie The Serpent's Egg.
Swedish master Bergman was said to have entrusted Carradine to take the role for his commanding physical presence, recalling that of his father.
In the following two decades Carradine continued to work, but failed to find success outside of cult "B movies," as he was beset by the use of drugs and alcohol.
In the mid-1990s, he reprised the role as Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, which found home on US TV for a further 60 episodes.
A huge fan of his B movie work during the 1980s and 1990s, director Quentin Tarantino called on Carradine to play the title character in the 2002-2003 revenge-action-epic Kill Bill and Kill Bill II.
Carradine's work on the movies earned him a fourth Golden Globe "Best Actor" nomination.
Married five times, most recently in 2004, and the father of two daughters, Carradine was still working at the time of his death.
WTF
R.I.P.
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David Carradine was murdered by an underworld martial arts sect, his grieving family claims.
The veteran actor was on the verge of exposing the secret sect when he was "assassinated" in a Bangkok hotel, they believe.
The family's lawyer Mark Geragos disputed claims by Thai police that Carradine died as the result of a bondage game gone wrong.
The 72-year-old actor was found with a rope tied around his neck, wrist and genitals last Thursday.
"David was very interested in investigating and disclosing secret societies, absolutely," Mr Geragos said on US talk show Larry King Live.
"What that means is connected to his interest in martial arts.
"And so there is a suspicion that, if there was some foul play, that may be the first area they should look."
Carradine became fascinated with martial arts since he played a wandering monk in the 1970s series Kung Fu.
He also played a martial arts expert in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.
According to reports, Carradine's family has now asked the FBI to send agents to Thailand to investigate the case.
But one of Carradine's ex-wives, Marina Anderson, said that if the actor was involved in secret societies, "it was a secret even I didn't know about".
Anderson, whose four-year marriage to Carradine ended in 2003, has said the actor often took part in "potentially deadly" kinky sex acts.
But Carradine's manager Chick Binder points to the fact the actor was found with his hands tied behind his back, and a mysterious footprint on his hotel bed, as evidence of foul play.
"We definitely don't believe it was a suicide," he said. "David was a great guy and a great client and a great friend."