He appeared in two early Martin Scorsese films: Boxcar Bertha (1972) and Mean Streets (1973), and played Woody Guthrie in the critically-acclaimed biopic Bound for Glory (1976), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.

[1] He received additional Golden Globe nominations for his performances in the television miniseries North and South (1985), and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004),[4] for which he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

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.

Several other television roles followed, including appearances on Wagon Train, East Side/West Side, Arrest and Trial, The Virginian, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

[31] Carradine's first big break came with his second Broadway part in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, a play by Peter Shaffer about the destruction of the Inca civilization by conquistador Francisco Pizarro.

)[citation needed] Carradine left the production of Royal Hunt of the Sun in May 1966 to take up an offer to star in the TV series Shane, a 1966 Western based upon a 1949 novel of the same name, previously filmed in 1953.

[44] In 1972, he co-starred as "Big" Bill Shelly in one of Martin Scorsese's earliest films, Boxcar Bertha, which starred Barbara Hershey, his partner at the time.

Although the choice of a non-Asian to play the role of Kwai Chang Caine stirred controversy, the show provided steady employment for a number of Asian-American actors.

[48] In addition to Keye Luke and Philip Ahn, who held leading roles in the cast as Caine's Shaolin masters, Robert Ito, James Hong, Benson Fong, Richard Loo, and Victor Sen Yung frequently appeared in the series.

[58][59] Immediately after Kung Fu, Carradine accepted the role of the racecar driver Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975), he said, to "kill the image of Caine and launch a movie career.

Set in post-World War I Berlin and also starring Liv Ullmann, The Serpent's Egg is one of the only two English-language films by famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, the second being The Touch.

[39]: 50–52 Carradine attracted notice in 1985 when he appeared in a major supporting role in North and South, a miniseries about the American Civil War, as the evil and abusive Justin LaMotte.

[76] Carradine continued to be in demand for action films, either aimed at the video market or for TV: Oceans of Fire (1986), Armed Response (1986) for Fred Olen Ray, The Misfit Brigade (1987), and Six Against the Rock (1987) as Bernie Coy.

Carradine also guest starred on Amazing Stories and Night Heat and he was in I Saw What You Did (1988), Run for Your Life (1988), Warlords (1988) (again for Ray), Tropical Snow (1989), and The Cover Girl and the Cop (1989).

[citation needed] Carradine appeared in his first studio film in a long time with Bird on a Wire (1990) and he guest-starred on television shows including Matlock, The Young Riders, and The Ray Bradbury Theatre.

Carradine was in Battle Gear (1991) and Evil Toons (1992) for Ray, and had support parts in Double Trouble (1992), Roadside Prophets (1992), Night Rhythms (1992), Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992), and Distant Justice (1992).

[27] Carradine played the part of the grandson and namesake of the original Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1992), which led to a new TV series that ran from 1993 to 1997, and consisted of 88 episodes.

[80] When Kung Fu: The Legend Continues ended, Carradine went into Last Stand at Saber River (1997), an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Lost Treasure of Dos Santos (1997), The Rage (1997), The Good Life (1997), Macon County Jail (1997), Nosferatu: The First Vampire (1997), Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998), The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998), Shepherd (1998), The Effects of Magic (1998), Kiss of a Stranger (1998), Sublet (1998), Martian Law (1998) for Hickox, Lovers and Liars (1998), Light Speed (1998), and Knocking on Death's Door (1999).

[40] In 2001, he appeared in the episode "The Serpent" of the syndicated TV series Queen of Swords as the sword-wielding bandit El Serpiente filmed at Texas Hollywood studios in Almeria, Spain, home of many Spaghetti Westerns.

Among those who thought his portrayal of Bill, the assassin extraordinaire, would earn him an Academy Award nomination was Scott Mantz of The Mediadrome, who said, "Carradine practically steals every scene he's in with confident gusto, and he gives a soulful performance that should all but ensure a spot on next year's Oscar ballot.

He had a cameo in Epic Movie (2007) and was in Treasure Raiders (2007), How to Rob a Bank (and 10 Tips to Actually Get Away with It) (2007), Fall Down Dead (2007) (which he helped produce), Permanent Vacation (2007), and Fuego (2007).

Carradine played Buckingham in a version of Richard III (2007) which he helped produce, and was in a studio film when he supported Rob Schneider in Big Stan (2007).

He did another comedy Homo Erectus (2007) and was in Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007) and Hell Ride (2008), He starred in the 2008 TV movie, Kung Fu Killer, in which he played a Chinese martial arts master very similar to his Kung Fu series "Caine" persona—his character in this movie named "White Crane", and mostly referred to or addressed as "Crane", frequently pronounced in a manner that minimized the R sound.

Carradine also appeared in a minor role in Yuen Woo-ping's Chinese kung fu epic True Legend; they had first met while filming Kill Bill.

[86]He appeared in the music video for the song "Devil" by Ours, with images originally shot four years before for the unreleased short film 8 For Infinity, directed by Michael Maxxis.

On October 3, 2009, Celebrity Ghost Stories premiered on the Biography Channel with an interview of Carradine discussing his belief that his closet was haunted by his wife's deceased previous husband.

[90] Carradine knew nothing of the practice of kung fu at the time he was cast in the role of Kwai Chang Caine; instead, he relied on his experience as a dancer for the part.

[24] For the first half of the original series, David Chow provided technical assistance with kung fu, followed by Kam Yuen, who became Carradine's martial arts instructor.

[93] In 1970, Carradine played one half of a flower-power beatnik duo in the season 4 Ironside episode, "The Quincunx", performing the songs "I Stepped on a Flower", "Lonesome Stranger", and "Sorrow of the Singing Tree".

[citation needed] Shortly after being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1960, Carradine proposed to Donna Lee Becht (born September 26, 1937),[97] whom he had met when they were students at Oakland High School; they married on Christmas Day that year.