John Carradine (February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was a Daytime Emmy Award-winning American actor, perhaps best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns.

Carradine was born Richmond Reed Carradine in New York City, the son of Genevieve Winifred (Richmond), a surgeon, and William Reed Carradine, a correspondent for the Associated Press. He originally planned a career as a painter and sculptor. He began his career in show business as a Shakespearean dramatic actor and made his cinematic debut in 1930 under the name Peter Richmond. He adopted the stage name "John Carradine" in 1935, and legally took the name as his own two years later.

Carradine appeared in ten John Ford productions, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also portrayed the Biblical hero Aaron in The Ten Commandments (1956). He did considerable stage work, much of which provided his only opportunity to work in a classic drama context. He toured with his own Shakespearean company in the 1940s, playing Hamlet and Macbeth. His Broadway roles included Ferdinand in a 1946 production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, the Ragpicker in a 13-month run of Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot, Lycus in a 15-month run of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and DeLacey in the expensive one-night flop Frankenstein in 1981. He also toured in road companies of such shows as Tobacco Road and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in which he was properly emaciated as the cancer-ridden Big Daddy.

Carradine claimed to have appeared in more than 450 movies, but only 225 movies can be documented (He did not bother to differentiate between theatrical movies and TV shows shot on film.) He often played eccentric, mad or diabolical characters, especially in the horror genre with which he had become identified as a "star" by the mid-1940s. He appeared in seemingly dozens of low-budget horror films in the 1940s, in order to finance a touring classical theatre company. He even sang the theme song to one film he appeared in briefly, Red Zone Cuba. He also made more than 100 television appearances, including recurring guest appearances as mortician Mr. Gateman on The Munsters. In 1985, Carradine won a Daytime Emmy award for his performance as an eccentric old man who lives by the railroad tracks in the Young People's Special, 'Umbrella Joe'. Carradine's last released film credit was Bikini Drive-In, released years after his death.

In 1982 he did the voice of the Great Owl in the animated feature The Secret of NIMH.

Carradine's deep, resonant voice earned him the nickname "The Voice". He was also known as the "Bard of the Boulevard" from his idiosyncratic habit of strolling Hollywood streets while reciting Shakespearean soliloquys, something he always denied. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, John Carradine has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6240 Hollywood Blvd. In 2003, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Carradine's four sons all became actors: David Carradine, Robert Carradine, Keith Carradine and Bruce Carradine. David's show, Kung Fu, featured his father John and half-brother Robert in the episode Dark Angel. John would appear as the same character, the Reverend Serenity Johnson, in two more episodes: The Nature of Evil and Ambush.

Carradine was married four times. His wives were: Ardanelle McCool, mother of Bruce and David, from 1935 to 1941; Sonia Sorel, mother of Keith and Robert, from 1944 to 1956; Doris Rich, 1957 to 1971, ending in her death; and Emily Cisneros, 1975 to 1988, who survived him.

Carradine suffered from painful and crippling arthritis during his later years, but continued working nonetheless.