While working on my movie, Omega Cop, one of the crew-members, I'll call him Bob, said, “John Carradine died. It said in the newspapers, ‘Carradine acted in 351 movies, most of them bad’." And then Bob laughed and repeated, “Hah, most of them bad.”

     As a fan of John Carradine, as well as his son, David Carradine, my first reaction was to comment on what a negative piece of journalism that was, because John Carradine was in almost every classic movie you can think of.

     Sure, he had worked in some low-budget horror movies, but they were few compared to all of the great movies he appeared in. 

     However, my mind quickly forgot about whoever wrote about Carradine in some local newspaper. My mind  went to Bob, who was so happy to repeat the negative news without knowing anything about John Carradine. Bob was just happy to talk negative. That trait soon impeded Bob from getting other film jobs and he disappeared.

     As the years went by, every time I saw John Carradine in a classic movie, I wished I could take a time machine back and tell Bob the list of great movies that Carradine made.

     I would repeat that ever growing movie list to Bob in my mind, every time I saw John Carradine in a classic movie.

     Twelve years later, I was on the Queen Mary ship for an invitation only gathering of celebrities for SpyFest held in the ship's wheel-house. Since it was the night before the big show, there were only twenty of us. And who walks in the door? David Carradine.

     David was with his manager and was very quiet and shy. He got a drink and stood saying only a few words to his manager once in a while with his head shyly hung down. So I slowly approached him.

     “David,” I said. “I’m a big fan of your fathers. It seems he’s been in every classic movie ever made.”

     David looked up with a big smile.

     And because I had practiced many times in my mind giving the list of movies to Bob, I could easily say to David, “He was in The Ten Commandments, Around the World in 80 Days, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach, The Shootist, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and both versions of Jesse James.”

     “There were two versions?” David asked.

     “Yes. One with Tyrone Power and one with Robert Wagner.”

     “I never heard of the Robert Wagner movie,” David said.

     “It was a good movie,” I said. “And speaking of Tyrone Power, your dad was in Blood and Sand.”

     Now David really perked up. “He did the best death scene that was ever in a movie in Blood and Sand.”

     “I agree,” I said. “And he was always saying, ‘This is my last season.’ And when he died, that was his last line.”

     Then David’s manager jumped in. “David’s been in some great movies, too.”

      David put his head down again.

      I said, “You know, when anyone mentions David Carradine, I always get the image of you running on the beach in Grey Lady Down and the Navy man drives up to you in a jeep and you ignore him. The man says, ‘The captain wants to see you.’ And you keep running. And then the guy says, ‘They want to use your special submarine.’ And you jump into the jeep, looking straight ahead with a little smile.”

     David looked up at me very pleased, because I'm sure all he is ever asked about is his Kung Fu TV show.  “We took three days to film that scene,” he said.

     Next, another man joined us and mentioned David’s yoga workout video, so the subject changed.

     Later, I realized, there was no need to take a time machine back to give the list of John Carradine's movies to Bob. Much better to give the list to John Carradine’s son.