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Kung Fu and Kill Bill actorDavid Carradine was found dead in hotel room Thursday in Thailand, according to AP from apparent auto asphyxiation or sex play.
Carradine, 72, was staying at a suite at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel in Bangkok while filming his latest movie, Stretch.
The officer responsible for investigating the death, Teerapop Luanseng, said he appeared to have hanged himself.
"I can confirm that we found his body, naked, hanging in the closet," Teerapop said.
According to the police, who suspect a suicide, Carradine's body was taken to a hospital nearby for an official autopsy that would be completed Friday.
But Carradine's manager believes there may have been foul play involved, in part because the hotel has been slow to release surveillance video from around the time of Carradine's death, according to TMZ.
Meanwhile rumors about Carradine's cause of death have already spread. Anecdotal comparisons have been made with INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence's death who died in somehow similar circumstances in 1997.
Evidence, such as that Carradine was found nude in the closet hanging by a nylon rope taken from the hotel room curtains, has led to believe that the death may have resulted from autoerotic asphyxiation, as Hutchence was suspected to have died.
Police further confirmed that there was no sign Carradine had been assaulted, although new reports say that his hands and genitals were also bound, suggesting he wasn't alone.
The Web site of the Thai newspaper The Nation said Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, and that his body was found by a hotel maid Thursday morning.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, said the embassy was informed by Thai authorities that Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.
The eldest son of character actor John Carradine made more than 200 appearances in films and television shows. He was best known for his portrayal of traveling Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the television series Kung Fu.
More recently he made a comeback as leader of an assassin squad in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies opposite Uma Thurman - a role that brought him a Golden Globe nomination as best supporting actor.
