A look at someone we lost twenty-five years ago, after the jump ….
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With the death of Doris Day and Tim Conway this week … it might do well to remember someone who died too young to achieve their status. Recently, Adam Sandler used his guest host slot on SNL to recall one of his old cast mates, Chris Farley — in a wonderful music tribute— and one of Chris Farley’s heroes was John Candy, who was recently praised by his fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds, for his passing twenty-five years ago. John Candy’s career was uneven yet, when he succeeded: he became a favorite not only of his colleagues, but of fans worldwide.
Born on Halloween in Newmarket, Ontario (the hometown of Jim Carrey, also) he wanted to be a football player in his youth, but an injury put an end to that. After college, he had some roles on Canadian TV before landing his breakout role on Toronto’s Second City TV series, at the urging of future SNL member Dan Aykroyd.
Along with a cast including Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara (plus the US-born actors Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin), the program ran from 1976-1984 (although John Candy left after 1981) and was one of the comparatively few Canadian TV shows that found an avid syndication in the US. Some of John Candy’s most famous characters from the show were Johnny LaRue ( an “unscrupulous street-beat TV personality”) and (along with Levy) my favorites, the Shmenge Brothers— a polka duo (with John Candy’s mother having Polish/Ukrainian ancestry, he felt a connection to the music).
He had a career involving forty-four films, most in a supporting role as a character actor … yet also had some starring roles. A few of his films include a parole officer spot in the original Blues Brothers, a small role in the 1983 National Lampoon’s Vacation— his first (of eight) films with his favorite director, John Hughes — and his break-out role as Tom Hanks’ brother in Splash from 1984. Then (as throughout his career) he was also cast in flops, which he was unhappy over.
His first starring role came in 1987’s Planes, Trains & Automobiles, another in 1988’s The Great Outdoors and in 1989’s Uncle Buck (all directed by John Hughes). And to show he was not strictly limited to comedy: he had a serious starring role in 1991’s Only the Lonely (co-starring Maureen O’Hara) and a serious supporting role as an attorney in Oliver Stone’s 1992 film JFK (which his daughter noted he prepared for diligently). John Candy always felt that he should have had a wider range of film opportunities, also an annoyance.
He was dedicated to his craft, asking his (future) wife on their first date ... if she could help him with a script. Later on, he was unable to watch his own films: asking his wife if she could report-back to him on what the audience liked. He was a dedicated animal lover, for a time was part-owner of the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League (fulfilling a dream after his playing career was cut short) and as noted was well-liked by those in the film industry and by fans.
Alas, he had recurring health problems (not all of which were his weight alone). There was a family history of heart disease, his kids say he tried hard to watch his diet… but when he became upset over his career, binge eating and drinking often followed. He did have some cocaine use and was a lifelong smoker.
In 1994, he was filming Wagons East in Durango, Mexico along with Richard Lewis, who told John’s children that Candy was always fun to be with … yet looked tired this time. John Candy died of a massive heart attack in March, 1994 at the age of forty-three. His role in Wagon’s East was completed with a stunt double, and the last released film of his was Canadian Bacon (filmed a year before his death).
John Candy was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, was honored with a 2006 postage stamp and his high school in Toronto established the John Candy Visual Arts Center — and he was an active alumnus of his high school.
There can be no better example of how much people liked John Candy … than what his SCTV co-star Catherine O’Hara said at a public memorial service (broadcast across Canada) a week after a private funeral/burial service:
“Let me just brag for a moment on John’s behalf. Last week, after the funeral mass, where Danny Aykroyd recited the lyrics to John’s favourite song, O Canada, we all got in our cars and joined the procession to the cemetery, where dear John (at least the body we know him by) will rest.
“The cemetery was quite a distance from the church so we took the freeway (of course, we’re in L.A.). We got on the 405 — and I know from talking to everyone afterwards that they all had the same experience — we got on the 405 and we all thought “What is the deal … why? It’s empty.” The 405 — the busiest freeway in the world — was empty.
“So we’re totally confused and we turned around and we looked back to see six lanes of traffic stopped. California Highway Patrolmen were in their way with their lights flashing. They stopped the 405 for John Candy. And when we crossed the 10, the busiest freeway intersection in the world, the 10 was stopped, too. We cheered, we cried. Every entrance ramp along the 405 was stopped by a CHiPs officer.
“At one of the entrance ramps, a driver from one of the cars way back was in the cop’s face trying to find out, “What’s the deal, why are we stopped?” The man listened to the cop’s explanation; he listened, he lost his anger, his face lit up, and he walked back to his car smiling. For John Candy.”
John Candy (circa 1972) …. …. and John Candy in 1993My favorite role of his (not a starring one, yet still my favorite) was in the 1981 film Stripes. Here, John explains why he enlisted in the Army …….
x YouTube VideoAnd then (while Bill Murray does most of the talking) is the moment that — when I first saw this film — I could speak in unison with John Candy.
x xYouTube VideoNow, on to Top Comments:
(Nothing from the field this evening)
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by First Amendment about the Midwest farmer abandoning the Trump Train— BoiseBlue gives a train ride analogy.
In the diary by durrati about the political cartoonist Clay Bennett (and the work he has done over the years) — Bassman77 notes that he met Bennett when he was a cartoonist for a university student newspaper … that is no longer a ‘student newspaper’, and that Bennett could not have blossomed as a student today.
And in the front-page story about GOP politicians who dodge questions about state abortion laws … the subject of Ohio’s law (specifically about ectopic pregnancies) led beanie3Ny to talk about her own escape with emergency surgery.
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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