Details, both truthful and speculative, on the death of David Carradine are still making their way onto and around the Internet, so there’s no point in us commenting on or relaying certain information regarding the tragedy. But with the actor gone, we can and shall concentrate on his legacy, which is really the most important thing to focus on anyway.

For most of my generation, Carradine is primarily known for being significant to the work of Quentin Tarantino, whether in the reference to the TV series Kung Fu in Pulp Fiction or in the Golden Globe-nominated performance from the actor in the titular role of Kill Bill. But there is so much more that Carradine has left us with, so let’s see what the blogosphere has to say in tribute to his memory and career:

• David Oliver at CHUD.com writes about the importance of remembering Carradine’s legacy:
  

  To simply report that actor David Carradine has died seems hardly able to do the man justice given the body of work with which he has left us…Carradine is a man who seemingly did it all on film, for all the good and bad that that entailed…So to Bill, Caine, Frankenstein et al, I’ll just say: Thank you, sir, I enjoyed the time you put in.

• Craig Kennedy at Living in Cinema agrees that the circumstances aren’t what we should be focusing on:
  

  the only important fact is that Caine walks the earth no more.

  Let this space be a remembrance of what was…

  …I was also a little too young to be dragged to the drive-in to see Death Race 2000 by my father, but I was and it left a mark. Carradine’s performance as Frankenstein in Paul Bartel’s cult classic is my first biggest memory of him and it freightened me. I was six or seven.

• Brian Warmouth at MTV Movies Blog takes a look at the “great legacy” Carradine left behind. From the intro:
  

  The real magnificence to his work was that, while he could appear in recent comedic roles like Mookoo in “National Lampoon’s Stone Age” or as the ad guru in commercials for Yellow Book, there was always this extensive history for him to build upon. Rather than ever becoming a parody of himself, Carradine carried on throughout his career as a serious, multi-faceted character actor.

  He was a movie-lover’s actor, a performer who left an indelible mark on everything he did with adeptly conceived roles in even the campiest environments.

• Clark Collis at Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch notes why Carradine was so prolific and varied:
  

  [He] was a sly, devilish, and at times downright freaky movie presence who, when he appeared on screen, automatically made matters twice as interesting. This is just as well given that the actor liked to work and his filmography is littered with the likes of Waxwork II and Children of the Corn V. But Carradine’s dramatic skills were recognized by such directors as Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Hal Ashby…Personally, I grew up believing David Carradine to be pretty much the coolest guy in show business, thanks to his starring role in the mayhem-filled Kung Fu.

• Quint at Aint It Cool News shares some personal memories and some personal favorites from Carradine’s oeuvre:
  

  My personal favorite stuff of his will always be his Roger Corman work. DEATH RACE 2000, CANNONBALL and BOXCAR BERTHA. And who could forget the absolutely bizarre Larry Cohen dragon-attacks-New-York flick Q: THE WINGED SERPENT? I also have a huge amount of love and respect for THE LONG RIDERS, Walter Hill’s Jesse James Gang flick where he cast real brothers to play the Youngers and the Jameses. That flick saw Keith, Robert and David Carradine playing off each other and giving us some of their best work.

• Glenn Kenny at Some Came Running acknowledges Carradine’s most significant film work:
  

  The last thing I saw him in was Crank 2. His extremely crass cameo was pretty amusing, but perhaps not something he’d necessarily wish to be remembered for. So let this be a thread for remembering some other things as well. Bound For Glory, for instance, one of his most noble, heartfelt performances. Or The Serpent’s Egg, one of his most intense. Or Circle of Iron, one of his most…unusual. And it’s a bit surprising to note that he made those three films—and three more!—within a span of two years, pretty much.

• Peter Martin at Cinematical recognizes some of his lesser known works and addresses his career of late:
  

  By all rights, the Kill Bill films should have led to more juicy roles in major productions, but Hollywood doesn’t really know what to do with actors who age gracefully yet are clearly not young anymore. He’s made more than 40 appearances since Kill Bill - how many have you seen?

• Markus Seaberry at Fused Film writes about “literally growing up watching” Carradine:
  

  I was a huge fan of David Carradine in my youth.  My parents and I watched reruns of Kung Fu constantly.  I also watched the Kung Fu reunion movie in the 80s and I watched the 1990s show Kung Fu-The Next Generation. I was glad when I found out that he was Bill in Tarantino’s Kill Bill films.  I was glad to see him get some high-profile work, and I also loved his phone book commercial that he had in recent times.

• Phil de Semylen at Empire quotes Carradine discussing his own work:
  

  Looking back on a career that encompassed more than 200 screen appearances, Carradine once said, “It always seemed to me like a mission. A holy one – like the Blues Brothers.”