Steve Martin and more share sweet stories about John Candy 30 years post death

Actor John Candy died at age 43 March 4, 1994, leaving fans and friends heartbroken.

The star died in his sleep due to a heart attack. In life he had several risk factors ahead of his tragic death, including weight issues, occasional cocaine use, and smoking cigarettes. Nonetheless, his tragic death still stunned fans at the time and, all these years later, his friends and colleagues are remembering him. The stars agreed that, in life, John was a lovely person. Catherine O’Hara expressed how “lovely” it is to confirm to fans that he was exactly like how fans expected him to be.

“John’s comedy lives on, but my memory of him has the words ‘kindness’ and ‘sweetness’ in the headlines,” his Planes, Trains and Automobiles costar Steve Martin told People.

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READ MORE: Tragedy of John Candy who battled heartbreaking weight issues before death aged 43

Laurie Metcalf spoke to his work ethic and kindness while filming the movie. She said: “What I found helpful at the time was to drill the scene over and over 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 and I think that for me sums up how big-hearted he was and what a sweetheart he was.”

Both Laurie and Richard Lewis spoke to John’s improvisation skills. In fact, Laurie admitted “scared to death to improv with him” because he was such a “master” at the technique. Richard explained: “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.'”

Richard was impressed by the “comedy heaven” he found himself as John was able to naturally find a scene and line to run with. Catherine explained that he also indulged fans he met with the opportunity to do some improv.

She said: “You’d be on the street with him, in a mall, and somebody would come up and just want to do a comedy bit with him, and he would always pick up on it right away and give something back and see their eyes light up, like, ‘Oh, I’m doing a bit with John Candy.'”

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