John Candy

John Candy
Background information
Born	John Franklin Candy October 31, 1950 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	March 4, 1994 (aged 43) Durango City, Mexico
Cause of death	Heart attack
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Actor, voice actor, comedian
Years active	1969–1994
Family information
Spouse	Rosemary Margaret Hobor (1979–1994; his death)
Children	Jennifer Christopher
Parents	Sidney James Candy † (father) Evangeline Aker † (mother)

John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor, voice actor, and comedian. For Disney, he voiced Wilbur in the 1990 Disney animated feature film The Rescuers Down Under. He also portrayed Freddie Bauer in the 1984 Touchstone Pictures film Splash and Irving Blitzer in Cool Runnings.

Born in Toronto, Candy grew up in Newmarket, Ontario. He was brought up in a working-class Catholic family. His childhood home was at 217 Woodville Ave in East York, Ontario. His mother was of Polish descent. His father died of complications of heart disease at age 35 in 1955, when Candy was five years old. He attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School, where he played offensive tackle on the school's football team and participated in drama club. Long before considering acting, Candy aspired to become a professional football player, but a knee injury during his high school football career prevented him from fulfilling his dream. He later enrolled in Centennial College to study journalism, and then went to McMaster University. He started acting while at college.

In 1972, Candy became a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related SCTV Network sketch comedy series. By the 1980s, he had become a prominent figure in Hollywood thanks films such as Spaceballs (a parody of Star Wars), as well as starring in many other comedy films, such as Stripes, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, Who's Harry Crumb?, Uncle Buck, and Home Alone.

Candy died in his sleep from a heart attack on March 4, 1994, in Durango City, Mexico, while filming Wagons East.

Roles

Freddie Bauer
(Splash)

Wilbur
(The Rescuers Down Under)

Irving Blitzer
(Cool Runnings)

Redfeather
(Pocahontas; deleted)

Gallery

John Candy speaks at the 60th annual Academy Awards in February 1988.

John Candy with Baloo on the cover of Disney Adventures (March 11, 1991).

Trivia

• Candy was, at one point, offered the role of Wayne Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but he declined. However, he suggested to Joe Johnston that his friend Rick Moranis would be a good choice for the role.^{[citation needed]}
• He was considered to voice Genie in Aladdin, along with several other actors, but the role was ultimately given to Robin Williams.^{[citation needed]}
• He was also initially set to voice a turkey named Redfeather, a deleted character in Pocahontas, but his role was later removed after his death, and after the animators decided to have the film's animal characters be mute.

External links

• John Candy on Wikipedia
• John Candy on IMDb