Marina del Rey, California – Actor Tony Todd has sadly passed away at the age of 69. He was known for a wide variety of roles, but many probably know him best as the sinister
Candyman.Todd died at his home in Marina del Rey, California, earlier this week. The official cause of death has not yet been announced, the Mirror reported on Friday.
The Hollywood star was active for four decades and counted among his portfolio films such as The Crow and Final Destination.
He was best known to fans as an icon of the horror genre, famous for being the titular antagonist of the acclaimed Candyman series.
After news of his passing broke, fans paid tribute to the beloved actor on social media.
“I am completely heartbroken,” one horror fan wrote on X. “You will always be remembered for your film and television roles and the kindness and joy you have shown your fans.”
Todd made guest appearances on popular 1980s and 1990s series including 21 Jump Street, Night Court, MacGyver, Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Law & Order, The X-Files, NYPD Blue, Beverly Hills 90210, Xena: Warrior Princesss and Murder, She Wrote and Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. He also appeared as the annoying TV news reporter Matt Rhodes on Homicide: Life on the Street and as Gus Rogan in over a dozen 2013 episodes of The Young and the Restless.
Meanwhile, Todd continued to act on the big screen. He appeared in the 1980s dramas Lean on Me, Colors, and the Charlie Parker biopic Bird, starring Forest Whitaker. But his best-known film roles came during the following decade.
The 6-foot-4 Todd starred in the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead as Ben, the role played by Duane Jones in George A. Romero’s iconic 1968 original film. His next big role is probably his most famous: he played the iconic character with a hook for a hand in Candyman (1992), a role he reprised in two sequels in 1995 and 1999.
Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen in Candyman (1992). (TriStar/Courtesy of Everett Collection)
In the 1992 film, Candyman was the ghost of Daniel Robitaille, whose parents were enslaved in the 19th century and became an accomplished painter. But he eventually fell in love with a white woman whose enraged father sent a lynch mob to kill him. Robitaille was burned at a site where a public housing project is later built and where a series of unexplained murders occur.
The Candyman legend lived on in the 2021 sequel directed by Nia DaCosta. It was one of numerous horror roles Todd would go on to play throughout his 40-year career, including that of funeral home owner William Bludworth in Final Destination and several sequels. He also played Grange, Top Dollar’s (Michael Wincott) right-hand man in 1994’s The Crow, starring Brandon Lee.
“Somehow or another, you have to get the audience to feel sympathy for the character,” Todd told Deadline in a 2022 interview. “There has to be something appealing about the character that makes people want to root for them but at the same time be repulsed by the idea. And for me, personally, in every movie I make, I create a backstory for all of my tortured people and my heroes alike.” Todd continued to work steadily in film, television, and video games throughout the 21st century, including a recurring gig as a CIA director on NBC’s Chuck, Freeform’s Dead of Summer, and MTV/VH1’s Scream. His big-screen roles were primarily in B-movies.
He was also an in-demand voice actor, lending his rich, resonant voice to dozens of roles spanning from the Star Trek and Call of Duty games to the Transformers Prime and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo TV shows and films like Transformers: Rise of the Fallen.
