comment #1

Stringer Bell says ...

I love John Candy, but it wasn't Hollywood's fault that he died young. He needed to lose LOTS of weight.

Judy Garland, on the other hand, while a boozer and pill popper, was run ragged by the Hollywood system of the time. Her family had a right to blame Hollywood for her death.

comment #2

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

I read that blog post last night and was blown away. So that was why he suddenly quit filmmaking in 1991. I was also touched that he actually became pen pals with that blogger and even called her up one day many years later. Lucky gal.

Still in mourning.... RIP John Hughes

comment #3

actionman says ...

This is one of the best things I've ever read about Hollywood. If all of this pen-pal stuff is true, I have a new found respect for Hughes, a filmmaker I never connected with in the same way that a lot of other people clearly did.

My heart goes out to his family...just terrible.

I'll have to watch Ferris this weekend.

comment #4

corey3rd says ...

amazing that Hughes wouldn't view John Candy's death as a reason why he needed to hit the gym and shed pounds. Peter Jackson did it. And if working hard in Hollywood will kill you, Michael Caine would have survived the 80s

While Hughes might have "left Hollywood" - he still contributed to the making of so many crappy films in the last two decades.

comment #5

Glenn Kenny says ...

I had the privilege of hosting an SCTV panel in NYC a few years back, featuring Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, and producer Andrew Alexander. I had put together a bunch of clips, and one was Candy's Johnyy LaRue exercise show, featuring the immortal "heart's beatin' like a rabbit" line. As the clip unspooled, I was horrified; it only hit me then how it tied in to his death. But nobody was offended; in fact it led to a long discussion about how there were no limits to where Candy would go, and how that applied to the SCTV troupe as a whole. Such is the paradox of the funny fat man. Of course there was more to Candy's persona than his girth; he really was prodigiously talented. But the girth was a big part of the persona. Which leads to the question of where you go when/if you shed it.

comment #6

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Glenn Kenny: Where does a fat comedian go if he slims down? I'll tell you where he goes. Into obscurity and the unemployment line! As Jonah Hill points out early in Funny People, you have to be fat to be funny. Even if a comedian's material is brilliant, the "funny" goes right out the window if the comedian looks healthy. You have to have that self-destructive wild-fat-man thing going on to be a big name. Hill has that part down cold. He looks about 30 or 40 pounds fatter than he was in Superbad, and boy, is he hilarious!

comment #7

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

So true about being fat to be funny part.

This is almost true for female comediennes. Not trying to be "mean," but a lot of female stand up comics and comediennes aren't traditionally beautiful by society's standards of feminine beauty. A lot of stand up comics and comedians have said that they were bullied in their youths, so they used humor as a way to distract people from focusing on their obesity or looks.

comment #8

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Hello...? I was kidding! Was Lenny Bruce fat? Jerry Seinfeld? Mort Sahl? Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, Sarah Silverman, George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Richard Lewis, Andy Kaufman, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Albert Brooks, Chris Rock, Dick Gregory, David Brenner, Bill Cosby, etc.?

comment #9

Glenn Kenny says ...

No, none of the comedians you cite were/are fat, true. Hence, they never made fat part of their schtick, as Candy did. As I said, Candy was prodigiously talented, and certainly could have been funny at any weight. But still, some re-tooling would have been necessary. A character like Johnny LaRue or William B. Williams kind of HAD to be a bit of a slob. Getting healthy would have meant coming up with a whole new stable of characterizations for Candy. Which would have been a challenge. But preferable to the alternative, which turned out to be the case.

comment #10

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

Chris Farley comes to mind... although I was NEVER a fan of his works.

comment #11

fattyhadaparty says ...

You know what's really interesting, Jeff? The fact that you could read Alison Byrne Field's piece and miss the entire point; a point, I might add, that is only reinforced by yesterday's tasteless reprinting of that SPY hatchet piece. By going to all that effort in order to trash the recently deceased, and then linking your readers to "Sincerely, John Hughes", you unwittingly show us a portrait of a man who had the capacity to change and to rediscover the things that really matter in life; just like the classic Capra films that SPY accused Hughes of constantly ripping off.

Oooh, John Hughes was an abusive, selfish, bully (the only one in Hollywood). But you know what? When he couldn't cut it anymore as a writer/producer/director, at least he had the good sense to reevaluate his priorities and focus on a more worthwhile goal like raising his sons. So, even though he died far too young, I'd like to think that he found more fulfillment in the few short years after he left Hollywood, than in the ones before. And, at the very least, I'll always have SIXTEEN CANDLES, SHE'S HAVING A BABY, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF and PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES to remember him by.

P.S. I'd like to think that the course of Mr. Hughes' life and passing would offer a "teaching moment" for your own. But, given your astounding ability to willfully ignore anything but your own perspective, I know that would be foolish.

"But this is what genius-level auteurs do -- they create their own worlds by investing in them whole-hog. "

comment #12

nemo says ...

How did "they" work John Candy too hard? Hold a gun to his head? John Candy was an adult. If he wanted to make fewer movies per year, all he had to do was sign on to fewer movies per year.

When it comes to health and body image, John Hughes sounds as delusional as Michael Jackson ever was.

comment #13

mccool says ...

A very unsympathetic piece for such an anti-conservative, liberal-minded bleeding heart like jeff. You mean individuals control their own destiny? Their responsible for their own decisions and their consequences? They're not victims when they give in to the temptations of the opportunists, leeches, and pushers all around them?? It's not society's job to save someone from themself and their bad habits? I killed John Candy. You killed John Candy. The beer-drinking Jeffrey Wells would say we all killed John Candy.

For those keeping score today at home...conservative jeff 1, liberal jeff 0.

comment #14

a1 says ...

You completely missed the real killer of John Candy....candy.

comment #15

lonniechung says ...

I loved John Hughes movies when I was a kid (up until Home Alone) but have no interest in revisiting them. They worked for me then, I know they won't now, and I'll leave it at that. So I had sort of a blank "he was young, what's he been up to" feeling when I heard the news. I remember that Spy article when it came out, and Hughes was an easy (welcome) target; on the downside of his career, spinning his wheels not moving forward at all creatively. Then he virtually disappeared. I respect that. He did what he did for a period of time, and he did it quite well. His movies were aimed at a particular crowd who appreciated his work. The cinematic value was low, but the entertainment value was high (and that's obviously what he was after). The Fields story is a fitting coda - heartwarming, one-dimensional and easy to love.

comment #16

bluefugue says ...

>Hello...? I was kidding! Was Lenny Bruce fat? Jerry Seinfeld? Mort Sahl? Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, Sarah Silverman, George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Richard Lewis, Andy Kaufman, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Albert Brooks, Chris Rock, Dick Gregory, David Brenner, Bill Cosby, etc.?

But certain actors and comedians get typecast as The Fat Guy, and I bet there are career consequences if they lose weight. A thin John Candy would project a different persona -- or for that matter Wayne Knight or Sidney Greenstreet or whoever. As an actor/star/personality you create and project a type that audiences become familiar with; they become comfortable with it; you become a known quantity and this is why you get cast in future movies. So I think there's a real financial incentive for some overweight stars to stay overweight. Which obviously has terrible health consequences.

comment #17

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"No, none of the comedians you cite were/are fat, true. Hence, they never made fat part of their schtick, as Candy did."

You know what? If you're making fat part of your schtick (not talking here or there, I mean constantly), you're probably not really that funny in the first place. I know that's not what you were saying, Glenn, just making a point I felt need made.

I agree with you about Candy, btw...he was just an inherently funny guy. Not a sight gag.

comment #18

Joshua Mooney says ...

bluefugue, you forgot Redd Foxx. Otherwise, good point.

Where in Manhattan did Hughes die while taking his walk? I don't mean to be morbid about this. It just bugs me that no press reports say where he fell. So I can honor that spot. Big Hughes fan. I remember when my old mentor Tim White (taught me how to tie a proper bow-tie) of Billboard dropped dead of a heart attack just up the street from me in the lobby of the VNU building. I'd like to know where Hughes died, is that so wrong?

comment #19

danny bloom says ...

Why are there no current photos of JH online anywhere? is it true that he had become grossly overweight like John Candy and John Goodman and Marlin Brando over the past 15 years and that he was fat and diabetic and knew he was on a fast track to pokkuri sudden death? I loved the man, his work, his genius, he movies, his walking away from Hollywood, who he blamed for Candy's death at 43, but what about the personal here? Was JH overweight, grossly or just a bit and why? Did he have history of heart disease in his family, mom or dad or grandpa? Somebody should be looking into these details too. People just don't pop off and die. They also take with them secrets and things the public never hears until much later. Let's find out now why he died at 59 from a H attack.... NOT ONE BLOG has looked into this so far.

comment #20

danny bloom says ...

Sir blogger, you got it wrong in your intro, you said her letters to JH were in 1997, read her blog carefully, it says : "For two years (1985-1987), John Hughes and I wrote letters back and forth. "

1985 to 1987......NOT 1997

You are forgiven. don't screen so fast. read more slowly on screens.

danny
Tufts 1971

re

For two years (1985-1987), John Hughes and I wrote letters back and forth.

comment #21

Anna80 says ...

John Candy was a great actor and he played a great part in some great movies. I watched a lot of his movies when I was younger. It's such a shame he didn't just lose weight and get himself into a healthier state so he could have lived longer.

But saying that, I suppose that was just him. And I know it might sound a bit weird but I think the fact he was overweight was a big part of his character.