John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films.
60 Facts About John Candy
2.
John Candy grew to prominence in the 1980s with his roles in comedic films such as Stripes, Splash, Little Shop of Horrors, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Spaceballs, The Great Outdoors, and Uncle Buck.
3.
John Candy was known for his supporting roles in The Blues Brothers, National Lampoon's Vacation, and Home Alone, and had dramatic roles in Only the Lonely and JFK.
4.
John Candy was born on October 31,1950, in Toronto and grew up in Newmarket, Ontario.
5.
John Candy's father died of complications of heart disease at age 35 in 1955 when John was five years old.
6.
John Candy attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School where he played offensive tackle on the school's football team.
7.
Long before considering acting, John Candy aspired to become a professional football player, but a devastating knee injury during his high school football career prevented him from fulfilling his dream.
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John Candy later enrolled in Centennial College to study journalism, and then went to McMaster University.
9.
In 1971, John Candy was cast in a small part as a Shriner in Creeps by David E Freeman, a new Canadian play about cerebral palsy, in the inaugural season of the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.
10.
John Candy guest-starred on a Canadian children's television series, Cucumber, and made a small, uncredited appearance in Class of '44.
11.
John Candy had a small part in The ABC Afternoon Playbreak and had a regular role on the TV series Dr Zonk and the Zunkins.
12.
John Candy was in It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, shot in Canada, as well as the children's sitcom Coming Up Rosie with Dan Aykroyd.
13.
In 1976, John Candy played a supporting role on Peter Gzowski's short-lived late-night television talk show 90 Minutes Live.
14.
In 1978, John Candy had a small role as a bank employee in the Canadian thriller The Silent Partner.
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John Candy became a member of Toronto's branch of The Second City in 1972.
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John Candy gained wide North American popularity when he became a cast member on the influential Edmonton and later Toronto-based comedy-variety show Second City Television.
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John Candy guest starred on such shows as The David Steinberg Show and King of Kensington and had a small role in the thriller The Silent Partner.
18.
In 1979, John Candy took a brief hiatus from SCTV and began a more active film career, appearing in a minor role in Lost and Found and playing a US Army soldier in Steven Spielberg's big-budget comedy 1941.
19.
John Candy returned to Canada for roles in The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog and the action thriller Double Negative.
20.
John Candy had a supporting role as easygoing parole officer Burton Mercer in The Blues Brothers, starring Aykroyd, and did an episode of Tales of the Klondike for Canadian TV.
21.
John Candy played the lovable, mild-mannered Army recruit Dewey Oxberger in Stripes, directed by Canadian Ivan Reitman, which was one of the most successful films of the year.
22.
John Candy provided voices for multiple characters in the animated film Heavy Metal, most notably as the title character in the "Den" segment, which was well-received, including by the character's creator, Richard Corben, who singled out Candy's humorously lighthearted interpretation of the title character as excellent.
23.
From 1981 to 1983, John Candy appeared in SCTV Network on television.
24.
John Candy made a cameo appearance in Harold Ramis's National Lampoon's Vacation, his first collaboration with John Hughes, who wrote the script.
25.
John Candy appeared on Saturday Night Live twice while still appearing on SCTV.
26.
John Candy was approached to play the character of accountant Louis Tully in Ghostbusters, starring Aykroyd and directed by Reitman, but ultimately did not get the role because of his conflicting ideas of how to play the character; the part went instead to SCTV colleague Rick Moranis, whose ideas were better received.
27.
However, John Candy did make a contribution to the franchise, as one of the many people chanting "Ghostbusters" in the video for Ray Parker Jr.
28.
John Candy played Tom Hanks's womanizing brother in the hit romantic comedy Splash, generally considered his break-out role.
29.
John Candy went back to Canada to star in The Last Polka, which he wrote with co-star Eugene Levy.
30.
John Candy was Richard Pryor's best friend on Brewster's Millions and had a cameo in the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird.
31.
John Candy was reunited with Hanks in Volunteers, though the film did not do as well as Splash.
32.
John Candy had a cameo in The Canadian Conspiracy and appeared alongside Martin Short in Dave Thomas: The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood in Canada.
33.
John Candy's second starring role in a Hollywood film was Armed and Dangerous with Levy and Meg Ryan.
34.
John Candy had a cameo in Little Shop of Horrors and appeared in Really Weird Tales.
35.
John Candy had a supporting role in Mel Brooks's Spaceballs.
36.
John Candy appeared in a cameo role in Hughes's She's Having a Baby and then starred in a film written by Hughes, The Great Outdoors, co starring Aykroyd.
37.
John Candy was one of several names in Cannonball Fever and had another hit film with Hughes in Uncle Buck.
38.
John Candy produced and starred in a Saturday-morning animated series on NBC titled Camp John Candy in 1989.
39.
John Candy made The Rocket Boy in Canada and had a cameo in two more films written by Hughes, the blockbuster hit film Home Alone and the box office flop Career Opportunities.
40.
John Candy provided the voice of Wilbur the Albatross in Disney's The Rescuers Down Under and had a supporting role in Nothing But Trouble, Dan Aykroyd's notorious box office flop.
41.
In 1991, Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky, and John Candy became owners of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts.
42.
From 1988 to 1990, John Candy hosted "Radio Kandy," a hot adult contemporary radio music countdown syndicated by Premiere Networks.
43.
John Candy had a cameo in Boris and Natasha: The Movie and the successful Rookie of the Year.
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John Candy starred in his first comedic hit in a number of years with Cool Runnings.
45.
John Candy made his directorial debut in the 1994 comedy Hostage for a Day.
46.
John Candy had expressed interest in portraying Atuk in a film adaptation of Mordecai Richler's The Incomparable Atuk and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in a biopic based on the silent film comedian's life.
47.
John Candy was originally considered to play Alec Guinness's role in the remake of the 1950 film Last Holiday, with Carl Reiner directing.
48.
John Candy died on March 4,1994, in Durango City, Mexico, while filming Wagons East; a spokeswoman said that his cause of death was a heart attack in his sleep.
49.
John Candy had a number of risk factors for heart attack, including a strong family history, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, obesity, heavy alcohol use, and use of cocaine.
50.
John Candy once lost 100 pounds over a summer while preparing for a new film role with Steve Martin.
51.
John Candy frequently dieted and exercised with trainers because of his family history.
52.
John Candy's funeral was held at St Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Los Angeles.
53.
John Candy was entombed in the mausoleum at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.
54.
On March 18,1994, a special memorial service for John Candy, produced by his former improvisation troupe the Second City, was broadcast across Canada.
55.
John Candy's final completed film was Canadian Bacon, a satirical comedy by Michael Moore that was released a year after Candy's death.
56.
John Candy played American sheriff Bud Boomer, who led an "invasion" of Canada.
57.
John Candy recorded a voice for the TV film The Magic 7 in the early 1990s.
58.
John Candy was posthumously inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998.
59.
In May 2006, John Candy became one of the first four entertainers ever honored by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp.
60.
Blues Brothers 2000 is dedicated to three people, including John Candy, who played a supporting role in the original Blues Brothers.