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The Final Resting Place of John Candy.
John Candy 31st.October 1950 - 4th.March
1994
Located in the Mausoleum, side room 7.
Cause of Death - Heart Attack.
Early life
Candy was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, to Sidney Candy, who was of Scottish descent, and Evangeline, who was of mixed Scottish and Lithuanian descent. His father died quite young from a heart attack. He attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School, an all boys school in Toronto, where he played football.
Career
Candy's first movie role was in Class of '44 in 1973 where he made a small un-credited appearance. Candy played a supporting role (together with Rick Moranis) on Peter Gzowski's short-lived late night television talk show, Ninety Minutes Live in 1976. As a member of Toronto's The Second City comedy troupe, he gained wide North American popularity when, in 1976, he became a cast member on the influential Toronto-based TV comedy-variety show Second City Television
(SCTV). Among his more memorable characterizations for that show were venal street-beat
TV personality Johnny LaRue, 3-D horror auteur Dr. Tongue, sycophantic and easily amused talk-show sidekick William B. Williams, quiescent Melonville Mayor Tommy Shanks, cheerful Leutonian clarinetist Yosh Shmenge who was half of the Schmenge Brothers the subject of the mockumentary The Last Polka, folksy fishin' musician Gil Fischer, handsome if accent-challenged
TV actor Steve Roman, hapless children's entertainer Mr. Messenger, corrupt soap opera doctor William Wainwright and smut merchant Harry, the Guy With the Snake on His Face.
Candy then started appearing in mainstream films such as 1941 and The Blues Brothers. Encouraged by this initial
success, in the 1980s Candy went on to star in such Hollywood films as Stripes; Splash; Planes, Trains & Automobiles; The Great Outdoors; Spaceballs; Brewster's Millions and Uncle Buck. He typically played characters who, whilst they lived somewhat seedy lives, often had their hearts in the right place. Candy was lauded by some as a true comic genius and this lay in his ability to portray an 'everyman', with which the audience could identify. However, in the early '90s he appeared in a string of critical and commercial failures such as Nothing But Trouble, Delirious and Once Upon a Crime, and he was widely regarded as a spent force. He also starred in a short-lived animated series in 1989 entitled Camp Candy. The show, which was broadcast on Saturday mornings on NBC and was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy, also featured his children Jennifer and Christopher Candy in supporting roles. The animated series also spawned a brief comic book series, based on the show and again starring Candy, also entitled Camp Candy. It was published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint.
Candy reinvigorated his acting career by broadening his range. He moved into occasional dramatic roles by appearing in JFK in a very effective performance as a shady
fat cat lawyer from the south, and semi-dramatic roles with Only the Lonely, where he plays a cop who has to balance his loyalty to his mother and a woman he loves, and Cool Runnings in which he played a disgraced former Olympic athlete who trains four Jamaicans in the sport of
bobsledging and eventually leads them to the 1988 Winter Olympics. Candy (who also produced the film) received positive reviews for these roles.
In 1991, Candy, along with Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky became co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. The celebrity ownership group attracted a lot of attention in Canada and the team spent a significant amount of money, even signing highly touted National Football League players.
In the early 1990s, Candy had returned to animation to record a voice for the TV film The Magic 7. However, this film remained in production for a very long time, due to animation difficulties and production delays. It was shelved for a very long time, but is now due to be released in 2006, more than 10 years after the actor's death.
Death
Candy died of a massive heart attack in his sleep at the age of 43 during filming on location in Durango, Mexico, for the western comedy film Wagons East. The film was completed using a body double in Candy's place and released in the summer of 1994 to savage reviews by critics and audiences alike. Critics denounced the film as one of the worst he had ever made, stating that it was an unworthy climax to Candy's career.
The following year however Candy's final completed movie was Canadian Bacon, a satirical comedy by Michael Moore in which America started a war with Canada. Candy played the American sheriff Bud Boomer who led the "attack" against Canada (which is ironic considering his Canadian heritage). Its release was delayed because the director Michael Moore changed the ending of the film following Candy's
death.
Doctors found that John's fatal heart attack had been the result of a complete blockage of one of his coronary arteries. He had quit smoking at the time and was losing weight, and fellow cast and crew even commented on him looking healthier than ever. He had previously been warned by doctors to lose weight due to a genetic predisposition to heart disease, from which his father had died at the age of 35; he refused, reportedly stating that his portly frame was what gave him his film roles.
Despite this, there was public evidence that he was self-conscious about his appearance when, a few years before his death, he cancelled his appearance as host of an awards show for the CBC because the advertising campaign for the special poked fun at his weight.
He is survived by his widow, the former Rosemary Margaret Hoban, whom he married in 1979, and their two children.
His funeral Mass, held at St. Michael's Cathedral, was broadcast live, on television, across Canada. He is interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.
He is an inductee of Canada's Walk of Fame. In May 2006, Candy became one of the first four entertainers to ever be honoured by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp.