Tony Todd "The Candyman" dead at 69 years old

[Tribal Warfare]

Virginia Madsen remembers her "Candyman" co-star Tony Todd, who has died at the age of 69.

"The great actor Tony Todd has left us and now is an angel. As he was in life. More later but I can’t right now. I love you." https://t.co/5JUNiJlwEf pic.twitter.com/Rqq5jGzGXB

— Variety (@Variety) November 9, 2024

Spoiler!

Tony Todd, an American actor known for leading the “Candyman” horror franchise as its eponymous hook-wielding ghost, died Wednesday at his home in Marina Del Rey, Calif. He was 69.

Todd’s death was confirmed by a representative for the actor. A cause of death was not disclosed.

A reliable presence in genre fare across four decades, Todd’s series of credits include iconic titles such as Alex Proyas’ comic book adaptation “The Crow,” Michael Bay’s Alcatraz actioner “The Rock” and the elaborate killing-set-piece series “Final Destination.” One of his earliest film performances came in his early thirties in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning war epic “Platoon.” On “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Todd donned alien make-up to play Kurn, a Commander in the Klingon Defense Force and the brother of Worf (played by series regular Michael Dorn).

But Todd secured his name in the genre pantheon with his performance in Bernard Rose’s “Candyman,” an early-’90s Americanized spin on a Clive Barker short story that brought a memorable supernatural spin on themes of gentrification and racism. At a towering 6’5”, Todd played Daniel Robitaille, aka Candyman, the tortured, bee-covered ghost of an African American artist and son of a slave who was murdered for his relationship with a white woman. The film starred Virginia Madsen as a Chicago graduate student preparing a thesis on the legend of Candyman by investigating inner-city Chicago.
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“My beloved. May you rest in power,” Madsen wrote in a post on Instagram after learning of her co-star’s death. “The great actor Tony Todd has left us and now is an angel. As he was in life. More later but I can’t right now. I love you.”

“Candyman” positioned itself as a somewhat arty genre play, debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section. Its handling of serious themes did not go unquestioned at the time, with some levying accusations that it trafficked in racist stereotypes. But the film has endured in critical and genre circles for its unblinking approach to serious matters, connecting America’s history of racism to the woes of contemporary urban life.

Todd reprised his role as the sympathetic slasher several times. He returned for the 1995 sequel “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (which marked an early feature for later Oscar-nominee Bill Condon), as well as Turi Meyer’s “Candyman: Day of the Dead” in 1999. After decades in development, the property was revived at Universal by director Nia DaCosta in 2021 with the simply-titled “Candyman,” which functioned as a direct sequel to the 1992 original and was co-written by DaCosta, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. Todd reprised his role in the new entry, which starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an artist who becomes drawn into the Candyman urban myth.

Born Dec. 4, 1954 in Washington, D.C., Todd studied at the University of Connecticut for two years before shifting to the Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Institute. Trained for the stage, Todd would practice playwriting himself and teach it to high school students in Hartford. He would go on to originate the title role of August Wilson’s “King Hedley II” with productions in Pittsburgh, Seattle and Boston. His performance “was a memorable tour-de-force,” Variety wrote in a review at the time.

Among Todd’s credits, totaling well above 200, the actor had a recurring role on “Boston Public” and made guest appearances on “Law & Order,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “The X-Files,” “Smallville,” “Psych” and “24.” He often voice-acted too, playing The Fallen in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” Zoom in The CW’s “The Flash” and, most recently, Venom in Insomniac’s PlayStation smash “Spider-Man 2.” He starred in the 1990 remake of “Night of the Living Dead” and was one of the few actors to recur in the “Final Destination” franchise, which would often kill off all its new characters by the end of each of its entries.

Todd never stopped working, often lending his gravitas and genre reputation to direct-to-video thrillers over recent years. His profile on IMDb currently lists more than nine titles that have entered post-production.

Todd is survived by his two children, Alex and Ariana.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Cheater5

Never saw Candyman but remember him in a few movies or TV shows here and there. Always seemed to be the bad guy, I think. Yeah, 69 is old, but not that old. Wonder why they don’t say cause of death?

Anyway— RIP.

I saw in one of the articles this morning that it was the result of a long illness, but nothing specific.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

Never worked with him, but know several colleagues who did, and everyone had nothing but great things to say about him.

Some trivia... for the bees scene in Candyman, they used real bees coming out of his mouth, and per his contract, he received a $1000 bonus for every bee sting. He ended up getting stung 27 times to the tune of $27 grand.

RIP Tony, you'll be missed.

[kevrunner]

RIP to Tony Todd, thanks for entertaining us. The Candyman was one of my favorite songs growing up, never thought it would be used in a horror movie.

[Gary Cooper]

I never understood Candyman. A slave who was killed in the 1800's comes back to murder people living in the projects in Chicago.

I may be forgetting the details of the plot but wasn't that the gist of it?

[4th and Long]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Mainly remember him as Worf's brother Kurn, a recurring character in Star Trek, both in Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. He was fantastic in that role. Also delivered one of DS9's best one-off performances as an older Jake Cisco.

RIP

Until we meet again in Sto-vo-kor.

[Frazod]

My favorite Kurn line: "You always did have fools working for you, Lars. Now you don't have as many."

[4th and Long]

Originally Posted by Frazod

My favorite Kurn line: "You always did have fools working for you, Lars. Now you don't have as many."

"Die well, Kern."
"Die well. Lars."
*2 goblets of blood wine are flung in opposite directions*

I remember that scene.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

I never understood Candyman. A slave who was killed in the 1800's comes back to murder people living in the projects in Chicago.

I may be forgetting the details of the plot but wasn't that the gist of it?

He wasn’t a slave but he was killed by a white mob for having an interracial relationship with a white woman. They cut off his hand, jammed a hook in the gash, slathered him with honey, and let the bees get him.

I guess he haunts Cabrini Green because that’s the land where he was burned.

Doesn’t make much sense if you think about it too hard lol

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

He wasn’t a slave but he was killed by a white mob for having an interracial relationship with a white woman. They cut off his hand, jammed a hook in the gash, slathered him with honey, and let the bees get him.

I guess he haunts Cabrini Green because that’s the land where he was burned.

Doesn’t make much sense if you think about it too hard lol

Oh, I see. I thought he was killed in the South and is now haunting Chicago for some reason. LOL.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

Oh, I see. I thought he was killed in the South and is now haunting Chicago for some reason. LOL.

Honestly, that would make a lot more sense.



Here’s the scene. You can see there is absolutely nothing around lol looks a lot more like the rural South than a major city. Idk about the layout of Chicago, but I have to imagine a housing projects would be pretty close to the city center. And Wikipedia says Chicago had 1,000,000 residents even in 1890.

So something ain’t adding up..

[Al Bundy]

RIP Tony. He sounds like he was a great guy.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Honestly, that would make a lot more sense.



Here’s the scene. You can see there is absolutely nothing around lol looks a lot more like the rural South than a major city. Idk about the layout of Chicago, but I have to imagine a housing projects would be pretty close to the city center. And Wikipedia says Chicago had 1,000,000 residents even in 1890.

So something ain’t adding up..