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Born in New York February 5 1906 with the grand name of Richmond Reed Carradine. The son of a reporter/artist and a surgeon, he grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended Christ Church School and Graphic Art School, studying sculpture. The Carradine family traces its ancestry back to an actual saint--St. Pedro Carradegna, patron saint of Barcelona.

With his distinctive face and deep baritone voice he had a career that lasted 60 years. One of his nicknames was The Voice.

He was not one to sell himself short and among his quotes are “Directors never direct me, they just turn me loose”.
“I am a ham! And the ham in an actor is what makes him interesting.” He chose the word "HAM" as his license plates for one of his cars. No one could accuse him of underplaying a part.


Mr Carradine in full flow as Dracula :

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He made his acting debut in "Camille" in a New Orleans theatre in 1925. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1927, he worked in local theatre. He applied for a job as a scenic designer to Cecil B. DeMille, who rejected his designs but gave him voice work in several films.

A protégé and close friend of John Barrymore, John Carradine was a sought after film character actor as well as maintaining a stage career in classic leading roles such as Hamlet and Malvolio. Carradine's own touring productions of "The Merchant of Venice," 'Hamlet," and "Othello" were sell outs. During the San Francisco run, Carradine always had a memorial seat reserved for John Barrymore.

John Carradine claimed to have more acting credits than any other actor but stated I've made some of the greatest films ever made - and a lot of xxxx too

An earlier performance as Count Dracula opposite Anne Gwynne in House of Dracula
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Early in his career he was a member of the group of actors often used by director John Ford that became known as "The John Ford Stock Company" and appeared with John Wayne in Stagecoach


Among his films was the classic The Grapes of Wrath, the cult film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and the epic The Ten Commandments.

He had a few problems on the matriomal front. The actor was jailed briefly in 1953 on contempt of court charges for back alimony payments. He married four times and had four children,

Keith Carradine,
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David Carradine, publicity shot


Robert and Chris and adopted Bruce Carradine. All entered the acting profession with David becoming a cult figure himself in the hit series Kung Fu.


In his later years he was typed as a horror star, putting in appearances in many low- and ultra-low-budget horror films but he was highly regarded in the profession and was not shy to say so when Ingmar Bergman cast his son David in The Serpent’s Egg, he quoted the revered director’s comment that he cast David because ‘he has princely blood of his father in his veins”

Being cast as Jedediah Milbank would not have been a stretch for the actor.


John Carradine died at age 82 of natural causes on November 27, 1988 in Milan ending his life with ‘Milan. What a beautiful place to die

Sources imdb