John Candy

A tribute to John is planned during the 2007 Grey Cup Championship (The Canadian Football League's Championship) festivities, in Toronto, Ontario. It will be hosted by his former Second City castmate Dan Aykroyd.

The John Candy Visual Arts Studio at Neil McNeil Catholic High School is dedicated to his legacy.

In 1991 John along with Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall purchased the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

In 1985, John Candy appeared in an HBO mockumentary titled The Canadian Conspiracy about the supposed subversion of the United States by Canadian-born media personalities.

John Candy was a member of both Second City Toronto and Second City Chicago.

Celebrities impersonated by John Candy on SCTV include Jerry Mathers, Divine, Orson Welles, Julia Child, Richard Burton, Darryl Sittler, Luciano Pavarotti, Jimmy the Greek, Tip O'Neill, Don Rickles, Curly Howard, Merlin Olsen, Jackie Gleason, Tom Selleck, Gordon Pinsent, Ed Asner, Doug McGrath and Hervé Villechaize.

John Candy attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School, an all boys school in Toronto.

In a rare dramatic role, John Candy appeared in the film JFK as a shady fatcat lawyer from the south.

In May 2006, John Candy became one of the first four entertainers to ever be honored by Canada Post and was featured on a postage stamp.

John Candy's funeral was held at St. Michael's Cathedral and was broadcast live on television across Canada. He is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery, in Culver City, California.

While John was shooting the movie Wagons East, John flew to Los Angeles and consulted with doctors about his failing hips. After recommending hip-replacement surgury, the doctors advised that John would have to lose weight to prepare for the surgury. John returned to the set of Wagons East and he began to lose weight. However, on 4 March 1994, he died of a massive heart attack.

In 1992, John was reported to accept an invitation to be the host of the Canadian Genie Awards. However, John backed out of his committment after the CBC began to promote his upcoming appearance using jokes about his weight.

John also had his own TV cartoon show called Camp Candy with John providing the voice of the head camp counselor.

In 1989, John had his own weekly radio show called Radio Kandy.

John moved his family to California in 1986 after he bought a house in Brentwood.

In the summer of 1985, John was chosen as one of Playgirl magazine's ten sexiest men. The editor wrote, "The shaggy moptop, dimpled cheeks, physical grace - nobody is sexier than this giant of comedy who turns us on with good humor."

In 1984, John spent a month in the Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica, California in order to lose weight. He lost 75 pounds.

John married Rosemary Margaret Hobor in April 1979 at St.Basil's Roman Catholic Church in Toronto.

John performed in his first professional play, Creeps, in 1971.

After high school, John enrolled in the journalism program at Centennial College in Scarborough. He dropped out inj his second year of college, and became an actor.

John wanted to join the U.S. Marines in his final year of high school but he was rejected because a knee injury sustained by playing high school football.

In high school, John played offensive tackle on the football team. His playing career ended when he sustained a knee injury.

John's father, Sidney Candy, died of a heart attack at age 35 when John was five years old.

In the movie Ghostbusters the role of Louis Tully, played by Rick Moranis, was originally written for John Candy.

He starred in the movie Uncle Buck.

John Candy played the role of "Barf" in the movie Spaceballs. The role was a take-off of the character "Chewbacca" from the Star Wars movies.

John Candy was 6'2" tall.