R.I.P. Tony Todd, horror icon and Candyman star
Todd also had memorable starring roles in Final Destination and gave one of the best Star Trek guest appearances of all time.
Image: Tony Todd in Hellblazers (Credit: Tubi)
Tony Todd has died. A veteran actor with a deep, resonant voice that matched his towering frame, Todd racked up nearly 250 credits across a 40-year film and television career. But while he played superheroes, supervillains, Klingons, soldiers, jazz men, preachers, cops, killers, doctors, monsters, mobsters, generals, aliens, Transformers, and more, Todd will inevitably be remembered best for one role: His title turn in 1992 horror hit Candyman. (Referred to, in mock-hush tones, as “the motion picture” when Todd discussed his legendary career in interviews.) It was the film that catapulted Todd into the blood-streaked limelight, putting him on first-name basis with fellow horror icons like Kane Hodder and Robert Englund; it’s the film that most widely showcased his twin gifts for charisma and menace. It was also just a portion of a career that stretched from the jungles of the Philippines for Oliver Stone, to the far reaches of space for his many turns in the Star Trek franchise, and to a hundred other points in between. Per Deadline, Todd’s death on Wednesday was confirmed by his representatives this evening. He was 69.
Born in Washington D.C., Todd pursued acting from an early age, achieving a Masters degree in his craft and working as an acting teacher in the early days of his career. A stint in New York theater caught the eye of casting directors working for Oliver Stone, and Todd was offered his first film role in the mid-’80s: A small part in Platoon, which saw Todd travel across the planet to film in the Philippines with a cast of soon-to-be-massive stars. A starring role in Tom Savini’s Night Of The Living Dead remake a few years later elevated his profile further, and he became a mainstay doing single-episode stints on TV—including the rare distinction of a guest star turn on Stephen Bochco’s deeply bizarre Cop Rock. (“Failed to get the numbers,” Todd reminisced with us in a 2010 interview about his career. “Failed to get the ratings. But boy, was it fun!”) Notably, this period saw Todd pick up the first of what would eventually be several appearances in Star Trek; after auditioning again, and again for the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation, he eventually landed the role of Kurn, the Klingon brother of Michael Dorn’s Worf. Down the line, Todd would go on to appear in different roles in three of the Trek series, including in Deep Space Nine‘s “The Visitor,” generally held up as one of the franchise’s finest hours—not least of which because of Todd’s performance as an aging, grief-afflicted Jake Sisko.