- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJohn Franklin Candy
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Candy was one of Canada's greatest and funniest character actors. His well-known role as the big hearted buffoon earned him classics in Uncle Buck (1989) and Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987). His career has handed him some dry spells but Candy always rebounded.
Born in Newmarket, Ontario, in the year 1950, Candy was the son of Evangeline (Aker) and Sidney James Candy. His mother was of Ukrainian and Polish ancestry. Candy found his passion for drama while attending a community college. In 1971 Candy made his TV debut in an episode of Police Surgeon (1971) co-starring Sharon Farrell, John Hamelin, and Nick Mancuso. Candy then found a number of bit parts in other Canadian television shows and also in such small films as Tunnel Vision (1976) and Find the Lady (1976). However, his big success came at the age of twenty-seven, when he became part of the comedy group "Second City" in Toronto. Alongside such soon-to-be Canadian stars as Catherine O'Hara (one of Candy's lifelong friends), Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, and Harold Ramis, Candy was also part of the television show the group inspired. SCTV (1976) earned Candy a reputation for his quirky humor and his uncanny imitations of others.
After the television series, Candy appeared alongside fellow Canadian Dan Aykroyd in the Steven Spielberg flop 1941 (1979). However, other jobs followed and Candy landed a role, once again with Aykroyd, in the successful classic The Blues Brothers (1980). Candy played a parole officer who is part of the chase after Jake and Elwood Blues. The film was a hit and Candy followed up accordingly.
Candy acted in the smash hit Stripes (1981) where he played a dopey, overweight recruit affectionately nicknamed 'Ox'. After the success of Stripes (1981), Candy returned to the Second City with the other former stars, in SCTV Network (1981). Candy also hosted "Saturday Night Live" before landing himself a role in the Ron Howard film Splash (1983), a romantic comedy about a mermaid who washes ashore and learns to live like a human. Candy played a sleazy womanizing brother to the character played by Tom Hanks. The film was a bigger success than even Stripes (1981) and a number of people have said that Splash (1983) was his breakout role.
He took a second billing in the comedic film Brewster's Millions (1985) where a man must spend thirty million in order to inherit three hundred million from his deceased relative. Candy played the man's best friend, who accidentally gets in the way as much as helping out. Candy continued making films tirelessly, including the film Armed and Dangerous (1986) where he and Eugene Levy play characters who become security guards.
1987 was an especially good year to Candy, giving him two classic roles: Barf the Mawg in the Mel Brooks comedy Spaceballs (1987) and the bumbling salesman Del Griffith alongside Steve Martin's uptight character in the John Hughes film Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987). The latter film is a golden classic and is one of Candy's greatest films. He followed up immediately with The Great Outdoors (1988), once again alongside Dan Aykroyd. Candy landed another classic role in the film Uncle Buck (1989) which was about a bumbling uncle who must look after his brother's three children.
Although he was in the smash hit Home Alone (1990), Candy's career fell into a slump, turning out unsuccessful films in the early nineties. This caused him to change his strategy by taking more serious roles. The first of these serious roles was the corrupt lawyer Dean Andrews in the 'Oliver Stone' film JFK (1991). The film was a big success, and Candy moved on from this victory to make the film Cool Runnings (1993) about the first Jamaican bobsled team.
Candy was well known for his size, six feet two and weighing around 300 pounds. However, he was very sensitive about the subject and in the nineties tried to lose weight and quit smoking. He was aware that heart attacks were in his family: both his father and his grandfather died of heart attacks and Candy wanted to prevent that happening to him as best he could.
In the mid-nineties Candy filmed the Michael Moore comedy Canadian Bacon (1995) then went to Mexico to film the western spoof Wagons East (1994). It was in Mexico that Candy had a heart attack and passed away in March 1994. Canadian Bacon (1995) was released a year after his death and is his last film.
Candy was loved by thousands of people who loved his classic antics in Splash (1983) and The Great Outdoors (1988). He was well-known for his roles in Stripes (1981) and Uncle Buck (1989) and he himself never forgot his Canadian background.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bob Stage
- SpouseRosemary Margaret Hobor(April 28, 1979 - March 4, 1994) (his death, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsSidney James CandyEvangeline Candy
- RelativesNicky Candy(Sibling)Jim Candy(Sibling)
- Often appeared in films written and/or directed by John Hughes and Steven Spielberg
- Often worked in a dance in his movies (Spaceballs, The Great Outdoors, even The Rescuers Down Under)
- Often played good-hearted slobs
- His large girth
- His role as Uncle Buck
- In a 2004 interview Steve Martin stated that at the time of John's death Steve was going through a divorce, so he briefly moved in with John's widow and children to help them out through this tough time and to get away from his soon to be ex-wife.
- According to Eugene Levy, John Candy was so beloved that when the procession was heading to the cemetery where John was interred, he looked over and saw that there was no traffic on the 405 Freeway and that police officers were stationed at the on-ramps holding traffic. When he asked a police officer what was going on, he was informed that the decision to stop traffic was up to the LAPD. Further, the only other times they stopped traffic was for Presidential motorcades and when the Pope visited Los Angeles.
- He was a heavy smoker for most of his adult life. He officially quit smoking cigarettes a few months before he passed away.
- Turned down repeated offers to join Saturday Night Live (1975), citing devotion to his fellow SCTV (1976) cast members.
- He turned down Wayne Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (1984) because he felt his good friend Rick Moranis was better suited for the parts.
- I think I may have become an actor to hide from myself. You can escape into a character.
- [on Ghostbusters (1984)] Harold [Ramis] had called and things just didn't go well with the negotiations on it. We didn't see eye to eye on certain things and the rest is history. But Rick [Moranis] did a great job with it.
- [on Who's Harry Crumb? (1989)] It offered me a lot of different characters to play and it was a lot of fun.
- [on Uncle Buck (1989)] In the movie, Uncle Buck doesn't talk down to these kids. And I think that's why they like him. He treats them as an equal.
- I've been taking shots at Tri- Star for their non-campaign of Who's Harry Crumb? (1989). I mean, good God, there's a team for ya. They sunk the picture and all got promotions for it.
- Home Alone (1990) - $414
- Armed and Dangerous (1986) - $2,000,000
- Summer Rental (1985) - $800,000
- Splash (1984) - $350,000
- Vacation (1983) - $1,000,000
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