David Carradine, who achieved cult hero status for his roles in "Kung Fu" and "Kill Bill," died very much how he lived: cloaked in mystery and with a penchant for the dark side.
The legendary actor, who died in 2009 at age 72, left behind a lofty body of work and a complicated, conflicted legacy. In "David Carradine: The Eye Of My Tornado," his former wife and manager Marina Anderson paints a nuanced picture of her tumultuous time with a man at turns loving and generous, at turns cruel and abusive. In the book, first published in 2010 and recently updated with additional content and photos, Anderson, a long-time actress, publicist, manager and writer, details the alcoholic depths to which Carradine sunk and her efforts to help rebuild his life and career, which came to fruition when Quentin Tarantino casted him in the title role in 2003's "Kill Bill." As Anderson writes in the book, "I was addicted to saving him."
"Had I been healthier within myself, I pretty much would have run," she says with a wistful laugh during an interview with HNGN. "However, that part of me was part helping and fixing me. I thought if I could help him and fix him, that in a way is helping fix the part of me that is missing and broken. I could see that in him. So it was kind of a mirror effect for me. But it was also a kind of a thing within me like 'I can do this. I can prove it to myself that I'm strong enough to endure this and go through that fire, and I can help this guy, I can fix his problems.' And in hindsight and in counseling, [I learned] they gotta do it themselves, you can't do it for them."
Carradine's body was found on June 3, 2009, hanging naked from a rope in his Bangkok hotel room. Autopsies concluded that the actor's death was not a suicide, and news reports spread assuming that he had died in an autoerotic asphyxiation accident, while that was not confirmed.
Anderson, who has appeared in high-profile shows like "The Mentalist" and "Dexter" and will play Claudine in this Thursday's episode of "Bones" on Fox, was married to Carradine from 1998 until she divorced him in 2001. She opened up to HNGN about her decision to include in the book intimate details such as the bondage which was part of the couple's sex life, the disappointment that came with Carradine's late-career resurgence, her initial reaction to the news of his passing and how she hopes her story - including the sexual abuse at the hands of her uncle - will help others heal.
Why did you decide to write the book?
I didn't start out writing a book. A couple years before David and I separated, I'd vent on paper, and usually it was like a letter to him I decided not to give him or something, and I would save it. I'd go back to it once in and a while and go, "wow, that's a trip." I had a file and then there was another file. And you talk to people and console each other and whatnot, and I would often get, "God, what you've been through, this is like a book, you should write a book." So I just kept compiling these stories and things I went through, just to help myself; it was more of a self-help thing at that point. After we separated I just kind of ramped up my self-help thing and kept more notes, as it were, and it just kept going. Finally, I thought I have enough here to write something that might help other people, because it's helping me.
Why did you choose the title "David Carradine: The Eye Of My Tornado"?
It was kind of a joke between my close friends. David was the kind of guy who liked a little drama. Not that he would do things on purpose, but he seemed to get a little bit of a kick out of seeing people react to what he was doing. In other areas in our life, he was the center of the tornado and everything is spinning around him and trying to deal with what he was creating.
What was your reaction to the news of David's death, and were you surprised of the details?
When I first got the news, it was that disbelief sort of thing, the press got it wrong, it's just an awful rumor. When I turned on the television I just felt myself totally go into overload and the tears just weren't stopping. All the old feelings and the hopes and the "maybe one day we'll still meet and have smiles on our faces" or maybe someday we will get back together, it was too much to process. I kind of had a mini breakdown. When I called Bobby [actor Robert Carradine, David's brother], his wife Edie answered the phone, I held it together but I didn't want to alarm them in case it was a rumor. After it was all confirmed that it was true, I started having a nervous breakdown, and then it turned to a little bit of anger.
Yeah, I believe the basic scenario, because he was into what they presented - he wasn't into the autoerotic asphyxiation, which is by one's self, but he was into the tying up...we lived the real "50 Shades Of Grey," man - but it did not include him by himself. So looking at all these news reports, they kept holding that. That's when I started to get angry, this isn't right. I just kind of felt it was leaving him with a stigma - mind you, I was not happy with him at the end - but when all this happened, all that went by the wayside, no this isn't right, I want to find out what really happened. And that's when I started to make calls and investigate it myself.
You write about your collie Lulu being there for you at the time. How did she support you?
Oh my God. My beloved collie Lulu, she was daughter to Lassie VIII and her brother from the same litter was Lassie IX. She was my rock. Some people will say "she's a wacko to put it in these terms," but she was my kid, she was my child, she was the light of my life, and my soul was connected to this dog. I think animals do have a sixth sense. I could be in the other room and she'd bolt into the room and put her paw on my lap and look at me like, "Are you OK? I know something's wrong." She was also a certified therapy dog and she became my service dog because of my severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So she was definitely my rock. When I was upset, I had her. Just one look at her and things would wash away, and I could take a deep breath and recharge the battery. When she passed away, the rug was just pulled out from under me, and even to this day, nothing seems the same. The light dimmed, and it has yet to go back on as bright.
What are you working on currently?
I'm working on getting my book...my story, produced as a film. Wish list is Gary Oldman to play David. Also, my first children's book, appropriately titled "Adventures of Lulu The Collie." I'm still acting. I did a role on "The Mentalist" that aired recently and now "Bones." I like doing the indie projects. I did this one project called "In Honor Of," and it's about the honor systems that many cultures have. If you dishonor the family, they kill the family member. It's really well-done, I just saw the final edit of it. I'm just proud to be a part of projects like that. And another one called "Legacy" I did a couple years ago, and oddly enough I play a mother who comes onto her son. I love playing freaky characters like murderers, and I get a lot of roles like that. The writing seems to becoming more and more of what I'm doing.
Disclosure: Marina Anderson is a freelance contributor to HNGN.
