Canadian actor and comedian John Candy rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related TV series Second City. He also appeared in comedy films like Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, Summer Rental, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle Buck. He was renowned for his performance as Del Griffith in the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles by John Hughes.

John Candy was born John Franklin Candy on October 31, 1950 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Sidney James Candy and Evangeline Aker Candy. He was of Polish and Scottish descent. He attended Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School in East York, Ontario. He graduated from Neil McNeil High School, an all-boys Catholic public school in Toronto, where he played football. He briefly attended drama classes at Centennial College in Toronto but dropped out in 1970 without graduating.

Candy found several bit roles in Canadian TV shows and small films such as Tunnel Vision (1976) and Find the Lady (1976). At 27, he found his big success when he became part of the comedy group Second City in Toronto. He worked along with Canadian stars Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis and Harold Ramis. After the TV series, he appeared in the Steven Spielberg flop 1941 (1979) along with fellow Canadian Dan Aykroyd. He continued to appear in many other films with big stars like Mel Brooks and John Hughes. He had his downs in the movie industry with unsuccessful films especially in the early nineties. He took more serious roles and the films became successful.

In March 4, 1994, at the age of 43, while they were filming the Western parody Wagons East! John Candy died of a massive heart attack in his sleep in Durango Mexico. This movie along with Canadian Bacon is dedicated to his memory.