  john franklin candy (october 31, 1950&nbsp;â march 4, 1994) was a canadian actor and comedian. candy rose to fame as a member of the toronto branch of the second city and its related second city television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as stripes, splash, cool runnings, summer rental, the great outdoors, spaceballs, and uncle buck. one of his most renowned onscreen performances was as del griffith, the loquacious, on-the-move shower-curtain ring salesman in the john hughes comedy planes, trains and automobiles. while filming the western parody wagons east!, candy died of a heart attack in his sleep in durango, mexico on march 4, 1994, aged 43. his final two films, wagons east! and canadian bacon, are dedicated to his memory. == biography == === early life and career (1950â1980) === candy was born in newmarket, ontario, in 1950. the son of sidney james candy and his wife evangeline (aker) candy, he was raised in a working-class roman catholic family. his maternal grandparents, jozefa (stefaniuk) and frank michael aker, were immigrants from eastern europe, of polish and ukrainian ancestry.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001006/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm candy studied at centennial college in toronto and at mcmaster university. his first movie role was 
1950_births 1994_deaths 20th-century_Canadian_male_actors Burials_at_Holy_Cross_Cemetery,_Culver_City Canadian_Roman_Catholics Canadian_emigrants_to_the_United_States Canadian_expatriate_male_actors_in_the_United_States Canadian_impressionists_(entertainers) Canadian_male_film_actors Canadian_male_television_actors Canadian_male_voice_actors Canadian_people_of_Polish_descent Canadian_people_of_Ukrainian_descent Canadian_television_comedians Canadian_television_writers Centennial_College_alumni Comedians_from_Ontario Deaths_from_myocardial_infarction Male_actors_from_Ontario McMaster_University_alumni People_from_Newmarket,_Ontario Primetime_Emmy_Award_winners Second_City_alumni Toronto_Argonauts_owners Writers_from_Ontario