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 Clive Barker that brought a memorable supernatural spin on themes of gentrification and racism. At a towering 6’5”, Todd played Daniel Robitaille, aka Candyman, the 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.
“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 of it trafficking 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.
As the sympathetic slasher, Todd reprised the role of Candyman several times. He returned for the 1995 sequel “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (which marked the debut feature for 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 legend.
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 film and television credits, totaling well above 100, 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 to, 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.
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