The Tragic Death Of John Candy's Father

John Candy, the jovial and lovable comedic actor who was a mainstay in 1980s movies like "Uncle Buck," "Trains, Planes and Automobiles," and "The Great Outdoors," suffered a tragic loss when he was around 4 years old. His father, Sidney Candy, died suddenly as a result of heart disease at the age of 35. 

According to People, the unexpected death left Candy's mother, Evangaline, alone to raise John and his older brother, Jim. The death of his father, a car salesman in Toronto, left a life-long impression on Candy, who knew that heart disease ran in his family.

Frank Hober, Candy's brother-in-law, talked about the ever-present knowledge of the family's genetic heart issues. "It was always in the back of everybody's mind," said Hober. "No one talked about it, but it was in the back of John's mind too."

John Candy's adult children spoke to Hollywood Reporter in 2016 about their memories of their dad's life and his own early death from a heart attack when he was 43 years old in 1994.

His son, Chris Candy, told Hollywood Reporter, "He always worked on his weight and his health. And fortunately, he helped us to figure that out for ourselves. He grew up with heart disease. My sister and I are very well aware of it and take care of ourselves. His father had a heart attack, his brother had a heart attack. It was in the family. He had trainers and would work at whatever the new diet was. I know he did his best."

But according to director Carl Reiner, who worked with Candy on the movie "Summer Rental" in 1985, Candy had a sense of imminent doom due to his father's early demise. Reiner told People in 1994, "He felt he had inherited in his genes a Damoclean sword so it didn't matter what he did."