Publishing the David Carradine death photo

A Thai newspaper has just made grieving more painful for actor David Carradine's family, said Jane H. Furse in the New York Daily News. Carradine—star of the 1970s TV series Kung Fu and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films—was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room. As questions swirled around Carradine's mysterious death, the newspaper, Thai Rath, published a photo of Carradine's body hanging naked in a hotel closet.

"Due to the circumstances of David Carradine’s death," said Stuart Heritage in Hecklerspray, "dignity isn’t exactly in ready supply right now." But it was bad enough when people everywhere felt entitled to speculate about whether Carradine committed suicide, or was murdered, or died in an auto-erotic asphyxiation act gone wrong. Publishing David Carradine's death photo "shows an absurd lack of respect."

All the conflicting details about David Carradine's death were already making grieving difficult for his family, said Howard Breuer in People. Carradine's half-brother, actor Keith Carradine, said the family was "profoundly disturbed" by the release of the photos. The family is quietly asking the FBI to observe the Thai police investigation to see whether anyone was involved in his brother's death, and the family is seeking an independent autopsy in case the local coroner missed something.

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