John Candy (1950 - 1994)

Maybe 1994 was the year North America died, it was the year we lost Bill Hicks and John Candy and the US and Canada never seemed quite the same after.

From IMDB:

• Graduated Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School.
  
  
• Was a fan of Doctor Who.
  
  
• His first serious role was the corrupt lawyer Dean Andrews in the 'Oliver Stone' film JFK (1991).
  
  
• The musical group Ween dedicated their 1994 LP, "Chocolate And Cheese", to him.
  
  
• Was considered by many to be one of the most genuinely nice people in Hollywood/Show Business.
  
  
• According to Eugene Levy, John Candy was so beloved that when the procession was heading to the cemetery where John was interred, he looked over and saw that there was no traffic on the 405 Freeway and that police officers were stationed at the on-ramps holding traffic. When he asked a police officer what was going on, he was informed that the decision to stop traffic was up to the LAPD. Further, the only other times they stopped traffic was for Presidential motorcades and when the Pope visited Los Angeles.
  
  
• In a 2004 interview Steve Martin stated that at the time of John's death Steve was going through a divorce, so he briefly moved in with John's widow and daughters to help them out through this tough time and to get away from his soon to be ex-wife.
  

Every so often I'll go look up a few things about John Candy and everything across the board says the same thing - he was kind, loving, and generous. He often helped with charities and often footed the bill. No one ever accused it of being a PR stunt or being self serving - he did it because it was what he felt was right. People described his humour as never having a mean streak. To me this is important and says a lot about his character. From all accounts it appears as though John Candy was a genuinely good person who cared for other people.

John Candy died from sleep apnea in his sleep.

I rewatched some of Bill Hicks standup recently and it is still the best stand up I have ever heard. Bill Hicks and John Candy have had a significant influence on my sense of humour.

I didn't know they died in the same year. 1994 was a bad year.