Tony Todd, an American actor identified for main the “Candyman” horror franchise as its eponymous hook-wielding ghost, died Wednesday at his house in Marina Del Rey, Calif. He used to be 69.
Todd’s loss of life used to be showed via a consultant for the actor. A reason for loss of life used to be now not disclosed.
A competent presence in style fare throughout 4 a long time, Todd’s sequence of credit come with iconic titles corresponding to Alex Proyas’ comedian ebook adaptation “The Crow,” Michael Bay’s Alcatraz actioner “The Rock” and the flowery killing-set-piece sequence “Ultimate Vacation spot.” One in every of his earliest movie performances got here in his early thirties in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning warfare epic “Platoon.” On “Superstar Trek: The Subsequent Era,” Todd donned alien makeup to play Kurn, a Commander within the Klingon Protection Drive and the brother of Worf (performed via sequence common Michael Dorn).
However Todd secured his identify within the style pantheon along with his efficiency in Bernard Rose’s “Candyman,” an early-’90s Americanized spin on Clive Barker that introduced a memorable supernatural spin on topics of gentrification and racism. At a towering 6’5”, Todd performed Daniel Robitaille, aka Candyman, the ghost of an African American artist and son of a slave who used to be murdered for his dating with a white lady. The movie starred Virginia Madsen as a Chicago graduate scholar making ready a thesis at the legend of Candyman via investigating inner-city Chicago.
“My cherished. Might you relaxation in energy,” Madsen wrote in a submit on Instagram after studying of her co-star’s loss of life. “The nice actor Tony Todd has left us and now could be an angel. As he used to be in lifestyles. Extra later however I will’t presently. I like you.”
“Candyman” situated itself as a slightly arty style play, debuting on the Toronto World Movie Pageant within the Middle of the night Insanity segment. Its dealing with of significant topics didn’t move unquestioned on the time, with some levying accusations of it trafficking in racist stereotypes, however the movie has persisted in essential and style circles for its unblinking technique to critical issues, connecting The united states’s historical past of racism to the woes of recent city lifestyles.
Because the sympathetic slasher, Todd reprised the function of Candyman a number of occasions. He returned for the 1995 sequel “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (which marked the debut function for Oscar-nominee Invoice Condon), in addition to Turi Meyer’s “Candyman: Day of the Lifeless” in 1999. After a long time in building, the valuables used to be revived at Common via director Nia DaCosta in 2021 with the merely titled “Candyman,” which functioned as an immediate sequel to the 1992 unique and used to be co-written via DaCosta, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. Todd reprised his function within the new access, which starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an artist who turns into drawn into the Candyman legend.
Born Dec. 4, 1954 in Washington, D.C., Todd studied on the College of Connecticut for 2 years earlier than transferring to the Eugene O’Neill Nationwide Theatre Institute. Skilled for the level, Todd would apply playwriting himself and train it to highschool scholars in Hartford. He would move directly to originate the identify function of August Wilson’s “King Hedley II” with productions in Pittsburgh, Seattle and Boston. His efficiency “used to be a memorable tour-de-force,” Selection wrote in a evaluate on the time.
Amongst Todd’s movie and tv credit, totaling neatly above 100, the actor had a ordinary function on “Boston Public” and made visitor appearances on “Regulation & Order,” “Murder: Existence at the Boulevard,” “The X-Information,” “Smallville,” “Psych” and “24.” He steadily voice-acted to, taking part in The Fallen in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” Zoom in The CW’s “The Flash” and, maximum not too long ago, Venom in Insomniac’s PlayStation ruin “Spider-Guy 2.” He starred within the 1990 remake of “Night time of the Residing Lifeless” and used to be probably the most few actors to recur within the “Ultimate Vacation spot” franchise, which might steadily kill off all its new characters via the top of every of its entries.
Todd by no means stopped running, steadily lending his gravitas and style popularity to direct-to-video thrillers over fresh years. His profile on IMDb lately lists greater than 9 titles that experience entered post-production.
Todd is survived via his two kids, Alex and Ariana.
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