Tony Todd Has Passed

Tony Todd, best known for starring in the Candyman horror films, has died aged 69. He passed at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

He appeared as the titular character in the Candyman movies four times, starting with Candyman in 1992, through to the final sequel in 2021.

He was an alumnus of the Artists Collective, Inc. Todd attended the University of Connecticut and then went on to study theater at the Tony Award-winning Eugene O’Neill National Actors Theatre Institute, and the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Throughout his 40-year career, Todd also featured in hundreds of films, but will always be best-known for Candyman, the ghost of artist Daniel Robitaille, a black man who was lynched in the 19th Century.

For the famous scene that sees Candyman swarmed with bees, he was paid a $1,000 bonus for each time he was stung. He was stung 23 times.

“Everything that’s worth making has to involve some sort of pain.”

He was particularly proud of the character, and it’s influence on black culture, including its use as an introductory tool in gang intervention work. Speaking after learning of his passing, his co-star in those movies, Virginia Madsen, said Todd:

“…now is an angel. As he was in life.”

She said he was a truly poetic man with a deep knowledge of the arts. She went on to say:

“I will miss him so much and hope he haunts me once in a while… but I will not summon him in the mirror!”

Before Candyman, one of Todd’s earliest roles in film was in 1986 as Sgt Warren in the war drama Platoon. He also starred as William Bludworth in the Final Destination franchise, and appeared in Outpost favorites The Crow (1994), and The Rock (1996).

He played the lead role in the 1990 remake of Night Of The Living Dead, and was also a prolific voice actor, lending his deep tones to movies such as Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen. He had a recurring guest star role as Kurn in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

Rest in peace, big man.