"Candyman" and "Final Destination" star Tony Todd passes away at age 69.

"Candyman" and "Final Destination" star Tony Todd passes away at age 69.

American actor Tony Todd, who played the title role of the hook-wielding ghost in the horror film "Candyman," passed away on Wednesday at his Marina Del Rey, California, home. He was 69 years old.

An actor's representative confirmed Todd's passing. There was no cause of death mentioned.

A reliable presence in genre fare across four decades, Todd’s series of credits include iconic titles such as Alex Proyas’ comic book adaptation “The Crow,” Michael Bay’s Alcatraz actioner “The Rock” and the elaborate killing-set-piece series “Final Destination.” One of his earliest film performances came in his early thirties in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning war epic “Platoon.” Todd wore extraterrestrial makeup in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” to portray Kurn, Worf’s (played by series regular Michael Dorn) brother and a Commander in the Klingon Defense Force.

However, Todd's role in Bernard Rose's "Candyman," an Americanized adaptation of a Clive Barker short tale from the early 1990s that gave themes of racism and gentrification a distinctive supernatural twist, cemented his place in the genre canon. Todd, who stands a tall 6'5", portrayed Daniel Robitaille, sometimes known as Candyman, the bee-covered, tortured ghost of an African American artist and slave's son who was killed because of his affair with a white woman. In the movie, Virginia Madsen played a Chicago graduate student who was researching inner-city Chicago for her thesis on the legend of Candyman.

"My dear. After hearing of her co-star's passing, Madsen posted on Instagram, "May you rest in power." "The legendary actor Tony Todd is now an angel and has departed from us. like he was in real life. I can't now, but I can later. I cherish you.

"Candyman" had its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section, positioning itself as a genre play with a hint of art. At the time, some people questioned how it handled serious subjects, accusing it of engaging in racist stereotype trafficking. However, the film has persisted in genre and critical circles due to its unwavering approach to serious issues, which links the problems of modern urban living to America's history of racism.

Several times, Todd played the sympathetic slasher again. He returned for Turi Meyer's "Candyman: Day of the Dead" in 1999 and the 1995 follow-up "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh," which served as an early film for later Oscar contender Bill Condon. With the simply titled "Candyman," which served as a direct sequel to the 1992 original and was co-written by DaCosta, Jordan Peele, and Win Rosenfeld, the property was brought back to life at Universal in 2021 after decades of development. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II played an artist who becomes sucked into the Candyman urban legend in the latest entry, in which Todd returned to his character.

Before moving to the Eugene O'Neill National Theatre Institute, Todd, who was born in Washington, D.C., on December 4, 1954, attended the University of Connecticut for two years. After receiving theater training, Todd would write plays for himself and instruct Hartford high school students. He would later create the title part in August Wilson's "King Hedley II," which was produced in Boston, Seattle, and Pittsburgh. In a review at the time, Variety described his performance as "a memorable tour-de-force."

Todd has a recurring part on "Boston Public" and guest roles on "Law & Order," "Homicide: Life on the Street," "The X-Files," "Smallville," "Psych," and "24." His credits total far over 200. As Zoom in The CW's "The Flash," The Fallen in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," and, most recently, Venom in Insomniac's PlayStation blockbuster "Spider-Man 2," he frequently voiced characters as well. He was one of the few performers to return in the "Final Destination" franchise, which frequently killed off all of its new characters before the end of each entry. He also starred in the 1990 version of "Night of the Living Dead."

Todd continued to work, frequently contributing his gravity and reputation as a genre expert to thrillers that were released directly to video in recent years. There are already over nine titles listed on his IMDb page that have gone into post-production.

Ariana and Alex, Todd's two children, survive him.