John Candy

John Franklin Candy was born October 31, 1950 in Newmarket, Ontario, and raised in East York, then a separate borough now part of Toronto. He attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School, where a knee injury ended his football ambitions, before studying journalism at Centennial College.

Second City and SCTV

Candy joined Toronto's Second City improv troupe in the mid-1970s, training alongside Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis. In October 1976, that ensemble launched SCTV, the sketch show that made Candy's characters — Johnny LaRue, Yosh Shmenge, Mayor Tommy Shanks — nationally known before the series was picked up by NBC in 1981.

Toronto's tributes

The city has marked Candy's local ties directly: a parkette at 769 Broadview Avenue in East York was officially named the John F. Candy Parkette in 2010, and Toronto has proclaimed October 31 as John Candy Day. Second City Toronto's smaller performance space is informally known as the "John Candy Box." He died in 1994, at age 43.

Sources

• Beach Metro Community News — Toronto Proclaims Oct. 31 as John Candy Day
• The Second City — John Candy