Candyman and Final Destination star Tony Todd dies aged 69

Hollywood actor and horror icon Tony Todd has died aged 69.

The actor, who was best known for starring in the Candyman and Final Destination horror franchise died on Wednesday at his home in Marina Del Rey, California.

His death was confirmed by a representative however a cause of death was not disclosed.

Throughout his 40-year career, Todd had more than 240 film and TV credits to his name.

Born in 1954 in Washington, D.C., Todd studied at the Eugene O’Neill National Actors Theatre Institute and Trinity Rep Conservatory, with his first screen role in 1986’s Sleepwalk.

The same year he played heroin-addicted Sergeant Warren in the Oscar-winning Vietnam War film Platoon.

He then went on to appear in popular 80s and 90s series’ including 21 Jump Street, MacGyver, Matlock, Law & Order, The X-Files, Beverly Hills 90210, Xena: Warrior Princesss, Murder, She Wrote and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

He also appeared in The Young and the Restless in 2013.

Although his silver screen roles in the 1980s like Lean on Me, Colors and Bird saw his success soar, it was the following decade that his best-known roles came about.

First starring in a 1990 remake Night of the Living Dead, he then played the mythical title character with a hook for a hand in 1992’s Candyman, a role he then reprised in the 1995 sequel Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, as well as Candyman: Day of the Dead four years latter.

Then in 2021, he also appeared in Candyman, the direct sequel to the 1992 original and which starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an artist who becomes drawn into the Candyman urban myth.

Todd also appeared in other horror franchises, playing funeral home owner William Bludworth in Final Destination and multiple sequels.

He also played Grange, the right-hand man of Michael Wincott’s Top Dollar in 1994’s The Crow , which starred Brandon Lee.

In a 2022 interview with Deadline, Todd spoke about working to make audiences sympathise with his characters.

‘There’s gotta be something attractive about the character that makes people want to root for them but at the same time feel repulsed by the idea,’ he said.

‘And for me personally, for every film that I do, I create a backstory for all my tortured people and my heroes alike.’

In recent years Todd appeared across film, TV and video games, including on the series’ Chuck, Dead of Summer and Scream.

He was also a prolific voice actor, with notable roles in Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Zoom in The Flash, Darkseid in the DC Animated Movie Universe and Venom in the video game Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

He was also credited as a voice actor in Star Trek and Call of Duty games.

He still worked on several projects in recent years too, with the actor currently having more than nine titles in post-production.

In a statement posted on Instagram, New Line Cinema, which produced the Final Destination franchise wrote: ‘The industry has lost a legend. We have lost a cherished friend. Rest in peace, Tony, -Your Final Destination Family.’

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