#john-candy

#john-candy

Candy had played this character in real life, and after passing the audition, he found himself walking across a studio floor in full football padding to a locker room set where he joined Canadian-born icon of American television Art Linkletter, whom Candy recognized from his 1950s television program People Are Funny. "My one big line was 'Oh sure, Casanova!'" Candy later told David Letterman on his Late Night talk show. "[We did] about a hundred takes of that."

Released in 1994, director Peter Markle's fish-out-of-water comedy follows a group of settlers so fed up with the Old West that they decide to head back east. Candy plays James Harlow, the grizzled, booze-soaked wagon master with a shady past tasked with guiding them home. Little did anyone know that the role would be his last. "He was loved, admired, and essential," McGinley told IndieWire. "I don't know how you move forward without him. I don't think we did successfully."