Tony Todd, the prolific actor who starred in films such as Candyman and Final Destination, has died at the age of 69.
Known especially for his work across the horror genre, Todd died at home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (6 November) following a long illness. His wife Fatima confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
Todd’s other best-known projects included The Rock, Platoon, The Crow, and Transformers: Rise of the Fallen.
Born in Washington, DC, Todd studied theatre at the Eugene O’Neill National Actors Theatre Institute and the Trinity Repertory Company in Rhode Island.
His breakthrough came in Oliver Stone’s war epic Platoon, in which Todd played an army sergeant addicted to heroin. The film won Best Picture at the 1986 Academy Awards.
Other significant early films include the 1986 Clint Eastwood-directed jazz biopic Bird, and the 1990 remake Night of the Living Dead.
Todd’s most indelible performance came in the 1992 horror Candyman, in which he played the titular character, a hook-handed murderer who appears when his name is spoken five times into a mirror.
Candyman was celebrated for its incisive social commentary and innovative take on horror. The film later spawned three sequels – Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), Candyman 3: Day of the Dead (1999), and Candyman (2021), all of which starred Todd.
In 1994, Todd starred in the Brandon Lee-starring cult horror The Crow, playing the character of Grange, the right-hand man of crime boss Top Dollar (Michael Wincott).
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He played a Marine Corps captain in the 1994 Nic Cage thriller The Rock, and funeral home owner William Bludworth in the hit 2000 horror film Final Destination. He also appeared in three of the Final Destination sequels, and will posthumously feature in the forthcoming Final Destination: Bloodlines, which is currently in post-production.
Todd also worked extensively in TV (in series including 21 Jump Street, Night Court, MacGyver, Matlock, Law & Order, The X-Files, NYPD Blue, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Homicide: Life on the Street) and as a voice actor in projects such as Transformers: Rise of the Fallen.
He furthermore enjoyed a rich career on stage, starring in Broadway productions of Aida and August Wilson’s King Hedley II among others.
On Instagram, New Line Cinema, the studio behind 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.”
