Tony Todd, an American actor comprehendn for directing the “Candyman” horror franchise as its eponymous hook-wielding gpresent, died Wednesday at his home in Marina Del Rey, Calif. He was 69.
Todd’s death was checked by a recurrentative for the actor. A cause of death was not disseald.
A dependable presence in genre fare apass four decades, Todd’s series of acunderstandledges include iconic titles such as Alex Proyas’ landlabel comic book alteration “The Crow,” Michael Bay’s Alcatraz actioner “The Rock” and the elucidate ending set-piece series “Final Destination.” One of his earliest film carry outances came at the age of 32 in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-prosperning war epic “Platoon.” On “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Todd donned originate-up to carry out Kurn, a Commander in the Klingon Defense Force and the brother of Worf (carry outed by series standard Michael Dorn).
But Todd protectedd his name in the genre pantheon with his carry outance in straightforwardor Bernard Rose’s “Candyman,” an timely-’90s Americanized spin on Clive Barker that proposeed an iconoclastic and superauthentic approach to themes of gentrification and prejudice. At a towering 6’5”, Todd carry outed Daniel Robitaille, aka Candyman, the gpresent of an African American artist and son of a slave who was killinged for his relationship with a white woman. The film starred Virginia Madsen as a Chicago graduate student preparing a thesis on the legend of Candyman by spendigating inner-city Chicago.
“Candyman” positioned itself as an artier genre carry out at the time, debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section. Its handling of solemn themes did not go unasked at the time, with some levying accusations of discriminatory stereotypes, but the film has endured in critical and genre circles for its unbjoining approach to solemn themes, uniteing America’s history of prejudice to the woes of conmomentary urban life.
As the compassionate slasher, Todd repascendd his role as Candyman as a horror franchise was born. He returned for the 1995 sequel “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (which labeled the debut feature for Oscar-nominee Bill Condon), as well as Turi Meyer’s “Candyman: Day of the Dead” in 1999. After decades in enbigment, the property was revived at Universal by straightforwardor Nia DaCosta in 2021 with the spropose titled “Candyman,” which functioned as a straightforward sequel to the 1992 innovative and was co-written by DaCosta, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. Todd repascendd his role in the new entry, which starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an artist who becomes drawn into the Candyman legend.
Born Dec. 4, 1954 in Washington, D.C., Todd studied at the University of Connecticut for two years before shifting to the Eugene O’Nelll National Theatre Institute. Trained for the stage, Todd would rehearse carry outwriting himself and teach it to high school students in Hartford. He would go on to begin the title role of August Wilson’s “King Hedley II” with productions in Pittsburgh, Seattle and Boston. His carry outance “was a memorable tour-de-force,” Variety wrote in a scrutinize at the time.
Among Todd’s film and television acunderstandledges, totaling well above 100, the actor had a recurring role on “Boston Public” and made guest materializeances on “Law & Order,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “The X-Files,” “Smallville,” “Psych” and “24.” He standardly voice-acted to, carry outing The Fallen in “Transestablishers: Revenge of the Fallen,” Zoom in The CW’s “The Flash” and, most recently, Venom in Insomniac’s PlayStation smash “Spider-Man 2.” He starred in the 1990 reoriginate of “Night of the Living Dead” and was one of the restricted actors to recur in the “Final Destination” franchise, which would standardly end off all its new characters by the end of each of its entries.
Todd never stopped laboring, standardly lending his gravitas and genre fame to straightforward-to-video thrillers over recent years. His profile on IMDb currently catalogs more than nine titles that have go ined post-production.
Todd is persistd by his two children, Alex and Ariana.
