Trivia

According to oldest son David Carradine in "Hollywood and Whine", "... we carted the coffin over to our house and opened it up. I looked down at him, and the undertaker had put a demonic, artificial grin on his face--like nothing I had ever seen him do in real life, except in a horror film. I reached out and, using the sculptural skills I had learned from him, I remodeled his face to be more naturally like him. Then I poured half a bottle of J&B scotch, his favorite, down his throat, and we had a wake".

He played Count Dracula in four films: La Maison de Frankenstein (1944), La maison de Dracula (1945), Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) and Nocturna (1979).

In later life, he suffered from crippling arthritis, but continued to work.

Officially changed his name from John Peter Richmond to John Carradine in early 1935.

He hitchhiked to California, earning his way as a quick-sketch artist.

Claimed near the end of his life to have appeared in more movies than any other actor, surpassing the record set by Donald Crisp, the Oscar-winning actor and director who had started in silent movies and had appeared in numerous one- and two-reel films, many of them lost. The title for actor who appeared in most films likely is a contest between Carradine (more than 300 films) and Crisp (at least 170 known films). Of the contemporary generation, Christopher Lee, who has acted in more films than his peers (over 200), does not come close to matching Carradine's prolific output.

Father of Chris Carradine, David Carradine, Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine. Adoptive father of Bruce Carradine.

He made guest appearances on both La quatrième dimension (1959) and La cinquième dimension (1985).

He missed out on playing two iconic horror icons - he was considered for the lead role in Dracula (1931) and refused the role of the monster in Frankenstein (1931), claiming the part was beneath him. He later played the former in La Maison de Frankenstein (1944) and La maison de Dracula (1945).

Always ranked his performance in L'affaire Barbe bleue (1944) high among his career favorites.

According to Jim Beaver's career article on Carradine for the October 1979 issue of "Films in Review", writer Tennessee Williams wrote the role of Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with Carradine in mind, although other commitments kept him out of the Broadway production in favor of Burl Ives. However, Carradine did play the role in a 1977 Los Angeles production.

His own touring productions of "The Merchant of Venice", "Hamlet" and "Othello" outgrossed Maurice Evans' celebrated 1940 version of "Hamlet". During the San Francisco run, Carradine always had a memorial seat reserved for his close friend, the late John Barrymore.

His first co-starring role with Boris Karloff came in 1929 during a ten-week run of "Window Panes" in Figueroa, CA. Carradine played a dimwit and Karloff played a Grigory Rasputin-like character.

Appears in eight Oscar Best Picture nominees: Cléopâtre (1934), Les Misérables (1935), Capitaines courageux (1937), La folle parade (1938), La Chevauchée fantastique (1939), Les Raisins de la colère (1940), Les Dix Commandements (1956) and Le tour du monde en 80 jours (1956). Only the last of these won.

Although he played Martha Scott's son in Les Dix Commandements (1956), he was six years her senior in real life.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6240 Hollywood Blvd. on February 8, 1960.

Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2003.

He appeared with Basil Rathbone in seven films: Le jardin d'Allah (1936), Le chien des Baskerville (1939), La grande nuit de Casanova (1954), Le bouffon du roi (1955), Les monstres se révoltent (1956) La dernière fanfare (1958) and Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967).

Grandfather of Martha Plimpton, Ever Carradine and Kansas Carradine.

Jailed briefly in 1953 on contempt of court charges for falling behind on his alimony payments.

He appeared with Vincent Price in seven films: L'Odyssée des Mormons (1940), La grande nuit de Casanova (1954), Les Dix Commandements (1956), L'histoire de l'humanité (1957), Filles et show-business (1969), Le club des monstres (1981) and Le manoir de la peur (1983).

He appeared with Lon Chaney Jr. in 11 films: Sa dernière chance (1937), Le brigand bien-aimé (1939), L'Aigle des frontières (1939), La Maison de Frankenstein (1944), Le fantôme de la momie (1944), La maison de Dracula (1945), La grande nuit de Casanova (1954), Les monstres se révoltent (1956), House of the Black Death (1971), Gallery of Horror (1967) and Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967).

After a family dispute, he left home to become an assistant to renowned Philadelphia sculptor Daniel Chester French.

He has appeared in eight films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: L'Homme invisible (1933), La Fiancée de Frankenstein (1935), La Chevauchée fantastique (1939), Les Raisins de la colère (1940), Johnny Guitare (1954), Le bouffon du roi (1955), Les Dix Commandements (1956) and L'homme qui tua Liberty Valance (1962).

Had the word "HAM" in his license plates on his Mercedes-Benz when he lived in Santa Barbara, CA.

Whispering Ghosts (1942) was his last film under his long-term Fox contract.

He was offered the role of Grandpa in Génération perdue (1987), but had to pass due to illness.

Buried or Lost at Sea. Specifically: Naval Sea Burial, between the California coast and Catalina Island.

John was the son of Genevieve Winifred (Richmond), a reporter and artist, from New York, and William Reed Carradine, a surgeon, from Mississippi. He was of English, with more distant Irish and Dutch, ancestry. He was sometimes said to have Italian or Spanish roots, from the surname "Carradine", but his last traceable patrilineal ancestor, a man named Parker Carradine, was born, c. 1755, in the state of Georgia, and had no evident Spanish or Italian origins.

He appeared with Peter Lorre in eight films: Nancy Steele a disparu (1937), Le serment de M. Moto (1937), Pour un million (1938), Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1938), Le tour du monde en 80 jours (1956), Les requins de la mer du Sud (1957), L'histoire de l'humanité (1957) and Jerry souffre-douleur (1964).

He and his granddaughter Martha Plimpton both appeared in Woody Allen films: Carradine played Doctor Bernardo in Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur le sexe... sans jamais oser le demander (1972) while Plimpton played Laura in Une autre femme (1988).

He had two roles in common with his Le clan des Mac Masters (1970) co-star Jack Palance: (1) Carradine played Count Dracula in La Maison de Frankenstein (1944), La maison de Dracula (1945), Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) and Nocturna (1979) while Palance played him in Dracula et ses femmes vampires (1974) and (2) Carradine played Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1947) while Palance played him in Ebenezer (1998).

He was considered for the role of Judge Whiteside in Géant (1956).

Profiled in "Character Actors in Horror and Science Fiction Films, 1930-1960" by Laurence Raw (2012).

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 165-167. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.