Tony Todd, ‘Candyman’ star, dead at 69
Tony Todd, the actor who played the eponymous killer in the “Candyman” film franchise, has died at his California home on Wednesday night. He was 69.
“I regretfully can confirm that my dear friend and client of over 30 years, Tony Todd has passed away,” his manager Jeffrey Goldberg told The Post. “What an amazing man and I will miss him every single day.”
Todd died of natural causes, according to TMZ.
Todd played the famed villain in the original 1992 “Candyman” movie and its 2021 sequel — as well as the two other films in the horror series “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” and “Candyman: Day of the Dead.”
With over 240 film and TV credits across four decades, Todd also appeared in the “Final Destination” franchise, “Platoon,” and “The Rock.”
Virginia Madsen, Todd’s co-star in the first “Candyman” movie, mourned the actor’s death in a video posted on her Instagram account.
“My beloved. May you rest in power sweet to the sweet in heaven,” Madsen, 63, captioned her post. “The great actor Tony Todd has left us and now is an angel. As he was in life. More later but I can’t right now. I love you.”
In her video, Madsen fought through tears to express her grief. “I just, just, just found out about Tony, and I will — I don’t know what to say right now,” Madsen told her followers. “But I’m — anyway. Yeah, I know about it, but I’m, I will say more about it.”
She added, “My beloved Candyman,” and thanked fans for their “kind wishes.”
Born in Washington, DC on Dec. 4, 1954, Todd studied acting at the Eugene O’Neill National Actors Theatre Institute and the Trinity Repertory Company. His breakout performance came in 1986 when he played the heroin-addled Sergeant Warren in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War drama “Platoon,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
His career blossomed in the 1980s and ’90s, working steadily in both TV and film.
On the small screen, Todd booked roles on “21 Jump Street,” “Night Court,” “MacGyver,” “Matlock,” “Jake and the Fatman,” “Law & Order,” “The X-Files,” “NYPD Blue,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Xena: Warrior Princesss,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager.””
In movies, the ’80s saw Todd deliver noteworthy performances in “Lean on Me” (1989) and “Bird” (1988), a musical biopic about jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker starring Forest Whitaker and directed by Clint Eastwood.
Todd began the ’90s with a starring role in the 1990 remake of George A. Romero’s 1968 horror film “Night of the Living Dead,” playing Ben, the role originated by Duane Jones. He followed that up with the movie he is best remembered for, 1992’s “Candyman.”
Todd instilled terror in audiences as Candyman, the blood-thirsty hook-handed ghost of an 1800s slave who was lynched after he fell in love with a white woman who is accidentally summoned from beyond the grave by a skeptical Chicago grad student writing a thesis on urban legends and folklore.
The actor also made notable appearances in ’90s action movies such as “The Crow” (1994), starring Brandon Lee, and the Sean Connery-Nicolas Cage Alcatraz Island romp, “The Rock” (1996).
But horror was the genre Todd was most known for. He played funeral home owner William Bludworth in four of the “Final Destination” movies, including the yet-to-be released sixth installment of the franchise, “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” slated to hit theaters next year.
Continuing to work into the 2000s, Todd landed jobs on NBC’s “Chuck,” Freeform’s “Dead of Summer” and MTV/VH1’s TV take on “Scream.”
Todd also found success as a voice actor, lending his commanding voice to Michael Bay’s 2009 “Transformers: Rise of the Fallen,” “Star Trek” and “Call of Duty” video games and TV series such as “Transformers Prime” and “Be Cool, Scooby-Doo.”
According to IMDb, Todd had eight unreleased projects still in postproduction at the time of his passing.
