Just like other families such as Mills, Redgrave and Douglas the name of Carradine has become synonymous with the big screen.
And today FemaleFirst takes a look back over some of the actors that have made the Carradine one of cinema's most famous families.
Richmond Reed Carradine kicked off the acting tradition, moving away from his original career choice of a painter and sculptor.
He kicked off the acting lark as a Shakespearean actor before moving into cinema in the thirties, his first role coming in 1934 in The Prisoner of Shark Island. In 1935 he adopted the stage name of John Carradine.
Between the forties and fifties John juggled his movie career, appearing in The grapes of Wrath, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Ten Commandments, with touring in his Shakespearean company.
He moved onto Broadway appearing in the likes of The Duchess of Malfi, The Madwoman of Chillot and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the last two were both roles lasting over twelve months.
John Carradine is best known for his Western and horror movies, appearing in a string of low budget horror movies during the forties. He also dabbled in television in shows such as Harrigan and Son and The Legend of Jesse James.
Away from the big screen he was married four times and have five sons, David, Robert, Keith, Bruce and Chris. He died of natural causes in 1988 at the age of eighty two.
David Carradine followed in his father's footsteps, in fact four of John's five sons would take up acting, after he studied drama at the San Francisco State University.
Like many he kicked off his career in television with roles in the likes of Taggart, a western based film, and Shane but became well known for his part in seventies TV show Kung Fu.
Kung Fu follows the adventures of a Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine, portrayed by David Carradine as an adult, Keith Carradine as a teenager and Radames Pera as a young boy, who travels through the American Old West armed only with his skill in martial arts, searching for his half brother.
He moved into movies with roles in Boxcar Bertha, am early movie by Martin Scorsese, before finding acclaim with the role of Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory in 1976.
The movie was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars and Carradine scooped the national Board of Review of Motion Picture gong for best Actor as well as being nominated at the Golden Globes.
A second Golden Globe for Best Performance by an actor in s Supporting Role in a Mini Series or Motion Picture Made for TV followed in 1985 for his role in television show North and South.
In recent years he has mixed television and movie work appearing in Kill Bill movies as Bill, and this brought another Golden Globe nomination. He can currently be seen in Crank 2: High Voltage.
Keith Carradine kicked off his career in movies when he appeared in McCabe & Mrs Miller before joining his brother in television series Kung Fu.
He mixed movies with singing for Nashville in 1975 when his song I'm Easy went on to win an Oscar for Best Original Song.
After appearing in The Duellists with Harvey Keitel and directed by Ridley Scott he appeared in a string of movies by Alan Rudolph including Choose Me, Trouble in Mind and The Moderns.
More recently he has worked in television in shows such as Deadwood, Into the West and Law & Order.
Robert also followed in his father's footsteps by taking on an acting career making his film debut in 1972 in The Cowboys alongside John Wayne.
He made his name in the revenge of the Nerds series of movies as Lewis Skolnick and is best known for playing Sam McGuire in hit television series Lizzie McGuire.
Bruce also tried his hand at the old acting lark appearing in two episodes of Kung Fu and a couple of movies.
Others in the family who have gone into acting include Ever Carradine, daughter of Robert, Keith's daughter Shelley Plimpton and Robert and Keith's half brother Michael Bowen.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw