Rare 1983 John Carradine Interview

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his memory also was getting pretty bad by than. in his day he had a fantastic memory and could remember his lines better than anyone in the business no doubt about that. i think it was Fred Olen Ray worked with on Shockwaves in (1977) and than in 80's when he worked with him again i think for Prison Ship? in (1984) or whatever the hell that film is called? star slammer ? whatever he forgot he worked with him on Shockwaves.

as for his remark about horror films, he HATED doing them and the reason he did them was well for the money and that's all he was offered if you really think about it. he did have one of the best voices in Hollywood in fact. only one who was better than his is Christopher Lee. and another reason he HATED doing horror is because he was miscast in horror films. hell even Christopher Lee who no doubt did enjoy doing them even he got tired of doing them at some point as well and in fact did everything under the sun to NOT be typecast and it was only by some kind of miracle he wasn't. but that took YEARS for that to happen. anyways when he was at fox in the 30's and the early 40's. he kept changing his salary and i think he at that time was a free agent?

anyways Fox got tired of him doing that and so they even went as so far as not even telling him that his contract when it was over they weren't even going to tell him! so he did those horror movies cause he was offered them and he needed the money. and fox more or less typecast him in horror because of this.

in fact that's why he left Hollywood in (1949) because all the scripts he was getting were terrible scripts. Anthony Quinn in (1947) left Hollywood for pretty much the same reason in fact. Quinn Came back in in (1952) or (1953) i forget which. and Carradine came back in (1954) and i can't say that i blame either of them for doing that. he may have hated doing horror movies but let's face it most of the horror movies he did do were freaking terrible Z grade crap. some were B movies though at a higher budget. and a lot of the roles he did take through the years his fans gave them roles cause they loved him as an actor and in fact expanded his role. Joe Dante in fact made his role Bigger when Carradine agreed to the role and other directors did do the same.

so my guess is that's why he was the way he was.

There's a very funny moment in the DVD commentary for Shock Waves where the director talks about having lunch with Carradine before production started and asking if he wanted to talk about the character. I forget the exact phrasing, but Carradine responded "I think I'll just play it the same way I have for 40 years."

I certainly understand that John Carradine did horror films only for money and indeed had little in that group to be really proud of. However, to me personally, it's always a bit sad when an actor deliberately maligns that which inspired the most love from an audience. So few actors make an impact in any form, much less exactly the one they want.

Carradine, in particular, pretty much led the career he was meant to have. He actually discusses in the interview how his unusual look and cultured manor painted him in the horror genre corner. It's a shame that he looked that particular gift horse in the mouth so much.

Regarding his boast of having the best voice in Hollywood, I have to agree that he did have one of the best voices. I've heard him in interviews he gave and it is a pleasure to listen to him. His voice was deep and relaxing and intelligible.