John Carradine (born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films, Westerns and Shakespearean theatre. A member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history. He was married four times, had five children and was the patriarch of the Carradine family, including four of his sons and four of his grandchildren who are or were also actors.

Early life

John Carradine was born in the Greenwich Village section of the Manhattan borough of New York City, son of William Reed Carradine, a correspondent for the Associated Press, and his wife Dr. Genevieve Winnifred Richmond, a surgeon. He was primarily of Irish descent. William Carradine was the son of evangelical author Beverly Carradine. The family lived in Peekskill and Kingston, New York. William Carradine died from tuberculosis when his son John was two years old. Carradine's mother then married "a Philadelphia paper manufacturer named Peck, who thought the way to bring up someone else's boy was to beat him every day just on general principle." Carradine attended the Christ Church School in Kingston and the Episcopal Academy in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, where he developed his diction and his memory while memorizing portions of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer as a punishment.