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John Candy

John Candy brought an unusually generous presence to comedy. He could play bluster, panic and wounded pride, but the warmth underneath was rarely far from view. That balance made him equally effective as the centre of a film, a scene-stealing supporting player or a welcome face arriving for only a few minutes. Born on October 31, 1950, and raised in Toronto, Candy emerged from the city’s comedy scene after joining The Second City in 1972. He reached a wider North American audience through SCTV, where his characters included Johnny LaRue, Doctor Tongue and Mayor Tommy Shanks. The programme showcased his range as a sketch performer and helped open the way to a substantial film career. Early movie roles in The Blues Brothers and Stripes established Candy as an easygoing comic presence. He followed them with appearances in National Lampoon’s Vacation and Splash, playing Tom Hanks’s brother in the latter. By the middle of the 1980s, films including Brewster’s Millions, Summer Rental, Armed and Dangerous and Little Shop of Horrors had made him a dependable part of American screen comedy. Spaceballs gave him another memorable supporting turn, but Planes, Trains and Automobiles showed particularly well how much feeling he could carry alongside the laughs. Candy’s work with John Hughes became a defining part of his film career. After National Lampoon’s Vacation and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, he starred in The Great Outdoors and Uncle Buck, then made a cameo in Home Alone. These films made good use of his ability to play men who were chaotic, exasperating and deeply human without sanding away their flaws. His smaller dramatic role as lawyer Dean Andrews Jr. in JFK offered a notable change of register. Cool Runnings, released in 1993, placed him in another ensemble comedy and became one of his later successes. Across all these films, Candy’s appeal came from more than size or volume: he understood embarrassment, frustration and kindness, and he could let all three occupy the same scene.