Tony Todd dead: “Candyman” star was 69

Tony Todd, an American actor best known for starring in the horror series “Candyman” as the eponymous ghost with a hook, died on Wednesday at his home in Marina Del Rey, California. He was 69 years old.

Todd’s death was confirmed by a representative for the actor. A cause of death was not announced.

Todd has been a reliable presence on the genre scene for four decades, starring in iconic titles such as Alex Proyas’ comic book adaptation The Crow, Michael Bay’s Alcatraz actioner The Rock and the lavish killer series Final Destination .” One of his earliest film appearances was in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning war epic “Platoon” in his early thirties. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Todd donned alien makeup to play Kurn, a commander in the Klingon Defense Force and the brother of Worf (played by series star Michael Dorn).

But Todd cemented his name in the genre pantheon with his performance in Bernard Rose’s “Candyman,” an Americanized take on Clive Barker from the early ’90s that gave the themes of gentrification and racism an unforgettable, supernatural take. Standing at a towering 6’3″, Todd played Daniel Robitaille, aka Candyman, the ghost of an African-American artist and son of a slave who was murdered because of 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 examining downtown Chicago.

“My beloved. May you rest in power,” Madsen wrote in an Instagram post after learning of her co-star’s death. “The great actor Tony Todd has left us and is now an angel. Just like he was in life. More later, but I can’t right now. I love you.”

“Candyman” positioned itself as a more artistic genre piece and debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in the “Midnight Madness” section. His handling of serious topics did not go uncontested at the time, and some accused him of trading in racist stereotypes. However, the film has stood the test of time in critical and genre circles for its uncompromising approach to serious themes, connecting America’s history of racism to the hardships of contemporary urban life.

As a likeable slasher, Todd took on the role of Candyman several times. He returned in 1995 for the sequel Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (which marked the debut of Oscar nominee Bill Condon) and in 1999 for Turi Meyer’s Candyman: Day of the Dead. After decades in development, the series was revived in 2021 by director Nia DaCosta at Universal with the simple title “Candyman,” which served as a direct sequel to the 1992 original and was co-written by DaCosta, Jordan Peele, and Win Rosenfeld. Todd reprized his role in the new installment, in which Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays an artist who gets drawn into the Candyman legend.

Born on December 4, 1954 in Washington, D.C., Todd studied at the University of Connecticut for two years before transferring to the Eugene O’Neill National Theater Institute. Todd was trained for the stage, practicing playwriting himself and teaching it to high school students in Hartford. He then shaped the title role of August Wilson’s King Hedley II with productions in Pittsburgh, Seattle and Boston. His performance “was a memorable tour de force” diversity wrote in a review at the time.

Among Todd’s film and television appearances, which total well over 100, the actor had a recurring role on “Boston Public” and made guest appearances on “Law & Order,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “The X-Files.” “Smallville,” “Psych,” and “24.” He has often worked as a voice actor, playing The Fallen in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Zoom in The CW’s The Flash, and most recently Venom in Insomniac’s PlayStation hit Spider-Man 2. He starred in the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead and was one of the few actors to recur in the Final Destination series, which often killed off all new characters at the end of each installment.

Todd never stopped working, often lending his seriousness and genre reputation to direct-to-video thrillers in recent years. His profile on IMDb currently lists more than nine titles that are in post-production.

Todd is survived by his two children, Alex and Ariana.