It’s been 30 years since John Candy passed away. The comedian entertained audiences in classics like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Uncle Buck. His colleagues remembered the late comedian.
Candy’s former SCTV and Home Alone costar Catherine O’Hara remembered Candy as “just as lovely as you’d want him to be.”
Likewise, Candy’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles co-star Steve Martin told People that Candy built a legacy that has endured in the three decades since his passing.
“John’s comedy lives on, but my memory of him has the words ‘kindness’ and ‘sweetness’ in the headlines,” Martin told the outlet. Meanwhile, Candy’s Uncle Buck star remembered a heartwarming scene where the two danced in the film.
“What I found helpful at the time was to drill the scene over and over,” Metcalf said. “And I’m sure that it was the last thing he wanted to do, having appeared in probably every frame of that movie, was to spend time doing something over and over again before it was even shot.”
“But he was so patient and generous with me, and that’s what we did. We just worked on it together and had a lot of fun,” she continued. “And I think that for me sums up how big-hearted he was and what a sweetheart he was.”
John Candy Remembered by Co-Stars
According to Metcalf, Candy helped her improve her acting. She said one of Candy’s great gifts was his ability to improv.
“He just taught me a lot about being a great scene partner,” Metcalf said. “I was scared to death to improv with him because it’s scary to me, to begin with, but then to be faced with possibly doing it with a master? No. So, I very cautiously stuck to the script. And I think he picked that up about me too. He was good at reading people and knowing what would make them comfortable.”
Meanwhile, the late Richard Lewis, who recently passed away, remembered Candy fondly.
“When I would hang out with him, I would say, ‘Listen, John, let me just make believe I’m a writer at SCTV, and let me just come up with [a scenario], and you do the voice, and you do the improv.’ And he said, ‘Fine,’” Lewis said.
Lewis continued, “I would do things like, ‘I need a root canal, and my dentist is out. And lo and behold, Montgomery Clift is my dentist. And he’s doing the root canal, but he’s very sad because he’s upset that Marilyn Monroe passed away.’ I’d go, ‘Action!’ and he would do Monty Clift depressed that Marilyn died, and he’s doing a root canal,” says Lewis. “I was in comedy heaven.”