Tony Todd, ‘Candyman’ Horror Icon Also Known for ‘Platoon’ and ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 69

Tony Todd, the “Candyman” star who appeared in more than 240 movies and TV shows, died on Nov. 6. He was 69.

The actor’s representatives confirmed the news of his death to TheWrap; no information about the cause has been released. The actor was “an amazing man and I will miss him every single day,” Jeffrey Goldberg, Todd’s manager for over 40 years, told TheWrap.

Todd starred as the killer in “Candyman” and the film’s sequel, but the actor’s prolific career included arcs on “The Young and the Restless” and “24” as well as episodes of “Hawaii Five-0,” “Xena: Warrior Princess” ” and ” Young Justice.”

Todd also starred in several “Star Trek” shows, including “The Next Generation,” “Voyager” and “Deep Space Nine.” In the “Star Trek” series, he is best known for portraying the Klingon Kurn, brother of Worf (Michael Dorn).

In a 1998 interview with Whew! Todd said that “Star Trek” was “the first show that gave me access to the fan world, so I’m forever grateful.” He also admitted that while he “didn’t wake up one day trying to be part of the sci-fi/fantasy universe”, he wasn’t unhappy with the direction his career had taken.

Todd also enjoyed a healthy career on stage after training at the Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. He told the outlet that he intended to do one piece a year. “It’s honest work. It’s more direct, more interactive,” he explained. “It’s just real. You have a six-week rehearsal period, unlike television, where you basically have to rehearse on your own. In TV you just show up and do it. In the theater you learn to put more time into the material before you appear on the set.”

The actor’s big break came when he was cast in Oliver Stone’s 1986 Vietnam War film “Platoon.” In 2020, he told The Guardian that shooting the film was difficult for each of its stars. “I won’t name any names,” Todd said, “but I saw grown men crying.” The film also starred Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker and Willem Dafoe.

Todd again credited his background in theater for helping him win the role of Sergeant Warren. He said Stone “wanted real faces. So it helped that I came from the theater and I came from poverty.” In fact, Stone cast Todd after he saw him perform a one-man show of Dalton Trumbo’s anti-war novel “Johnny Got His Gun at a Hell’s Kitchen.”

He was best known for his role as The Candyman in the 1992 film “Candyman”, a film he was cast in after the 1990 remake of “Night of the Living Dead”. He played the ghost of Daniel Robitaille, a man whose parents were slaves. Robitaille was killed by a mob after he started dating a white woman; the site of his death eventually became the site of a public housing project where several unexplained murders took place.

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