David Carradine: Kwai Chang Caine
Keye Luke: Master Po
Philip Ahn: Master Kan
Radames Pera: Young Kane
Keith Carradine: Caine as teenager
Show Info
Kwai Chang Caine is a Shoalin Monk who is on the run after he killed the Chinese Emporer's nephew after that coward killed his teacher in cold blood with a gun. He flees to America both to escape retaliation and to search for his brother in order to settle down in this new land. However, in his travels in the wild west, he can not help but continually run into trouble from desperados and other ruffians as they oppress the innocent, while bounty hunters pursue the price on his head. Against this, he has his skill of Kung-fu martial arts which proves to be devastatingly effective in this gun-dominated land
Trivia
-> According to Bruce Lee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, Lee originated the concept and was intended to star in the series, but David Carradine was cast because the network felt the American audience was not ready for an Asian actor as the lead and Lee received no credit for his concept. (This was dramatized in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993).) But according to the producers, although Lee was consulted and was considered for the role, they created the concept and Carradine was always their first choice.
-> In several episodes, a younger Kwai Chang Caine was played by Keith Carradine, David Carradine's younger brother. Their other brother Robert Carradine and their father John Carradine also appeared in episodes (as Sonny Jim and Serenity Johnson, respectively).
-> The only reason this show went off the air was because star David Carradine quit the series. He had sustained so many injuries, he felt he could not go on. The show got high ratings all three seasons it aired.
Original Airdate
February 22nd, 1972
Watch the pilot episode
Kung Fu Merchandisw
TV Guide And Other Magazine Covers
Where on Earth is David now???
(June 4th, 2009) David Carradine, who became a TV icon in the early 1970s starring as an enigmatic Buddhist monk with a flair for martial arts in "Kung Fu" and more recently played the head of a group of assassins in the "Kill Bill" movies, has been found dead in Bangkok, Thailand. He was 72.
Carradine was found hanged in his luxury hotel suite Thursday, the Thai newspaper the Nation reported on its website, citing unidentified police sources.
