5) David Carradine
It was the 70s TV show Kung Fu that brought David Carradine the bulk of his fame, but – as one of the ridiculously hard-working Carradine brothers – the actor’s credits run and run way beyond his most famous small screen role. He had his best luck in the 70s, mind you, starring not just in Kung Fu but in prominent low budget B-movies like Boxcar Bertha and Death Race 2000.
[zergpaid]Tarantino must have figured Carradine deserved better than the tiny parts he’d been taking since, because he decided to cast the former Kwai Chang Caine as the title character in his Kill Bill two-parter. Carradine died in a bizarre accident some five years later, but that didn’t stop him from working on literally dozens of projects between Bill in 2004 and his death in 2009, using his newfound Kill Bill fame to be more prolific than ever.