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Tony Todd, star of “Candyman” film series and decades of other film and TV roles, dies at 69
Actor Tony Todd, known for his roles in the horror film “Candyman” and its 2021 sequel, died on Wednesday, his representative, Jeffrey Goldberg, told CBS News. He was 69.
“Regretfully, I can confirm that my friend and client of over 30 years, Tony Todd, has passed away on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at 11:50 p.m. peacefully at his home in Marina Del Rey,” said Goldberg. “I am lucky to have been able to work with this amazing man and I will miss him every single day.”
Todd’s cause of death was not disclosed.
For four decades, Todd’s roles spanned genres, with film credits that started in 1986, per IMDB. They range from his role in the Academy Award-winning film “Platoon” to “Final Destination.”
Todd is perhaps best known for playing Daniel Robitaille in the 1992 film “Candyman” and its 2021 sequel. Todd’s character was the ghost of a Black artist and the son of a slave who was killed for his relationship with a White woman. The film also starred Virginia Madsen as a graduate student in Chicago who was preparing a thesis on the legend of Candyman.
Todd reprised his role in 2021 in the sequel, which starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen as an artist who gets drawn into the Candyman legend.
Madsen wrote a tribute post to Todd on Instagram, saying, “The great actor Tony Todd has left us and now is an angel. As he was in life. More later but I can’t right now. I love you.”
New Line Cinema, which produced the “Final Destination” franchise, also posted on Instagram about Todd’s death.
“The industry has lost a legend. We have lost a cherished friend. Rest in peace, Tony,” read the post.
Todd was born on Dec. 4, 1954, in Washington, D.C. He pursued acting at the Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Institute and Trinity Repertory Conservatory, according to Deadline.
He went on to guest star in popular TV shows and sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s including “Night Court,” “Matlock” and “Law & Order.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Todd is survived by his wife, Fatima, and two children.
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Explosion at Louisville plant leaves 11 employees injured
At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals and residents were urged to shelter in place on Tuesday after an explosion at a Louisville, Kentucky, business.
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services reported on social media a “hazardous materials incident” at 1901 Payne St., in Louisville. The address belongs to a facility operated by Givaudan Sense Colour, a manufacturer of food colorings for soft drinks and other products, according to officials and online records.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said emergency teams responded to the blast around 3 p.m. News outlets reported that neighbors heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the business. Overhead news video footage showed an industrial building with a large hole in its roof.
“The cause at this point of the explosion is unknown,” Greenberg said in a news conference. No one died in the explosion, he added.
Greenberg said officials spoke to employees inside the plant. “They have initially conveyed that everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred,” he said.
The Louisville Fire Department said in a post on the social platform X that multiple agencies were responding to a “large-scale incident.”
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services first urged people within a mile of the business to shelter in place, but that order was lifted in the afternoon. An evacuation order for the two surrounding blocks around the site of the explosion was still in place Tuesday afternoon.
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Briefing held on classified documents leaker Jack Teixeira’s sentencing
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Aga Khan emerald, world’s most expensive green stone, fetches record $9 million at auction
A rare square 37-carat emerald owned by the Aga Khan fetched nearly $9 million at auction in Geneva on Tuesday, making it the world’s most expensive green stone.
Sold by Christie’s, the Cartier diamond and emerald brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, dethrones a piece of jewelry made by the fashion house Bulgari, which Richard Burton gave as a wedding gift to fellow actor Elizabeth Taylor, as the most precious emerald.
In 1960, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan commissioned Cartier to set the emerald in a brooch with 20 marquise-cut diamonds for British socialite Nina Dyer, to whom he was briefly married.
Dyer then auctioned off the emerald to raise money for animals in 1969.
By chance that was Christie’s very first such sale in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the emerald finding its way back to the 110th edition this year.
It was bought by jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels before passing a few years later into the hands of Harry Winston, nicknamed the “King of Diamonds.”
“Emeralds are hot right now, and this one ticks all the boxes,” said Christie’s EMEA Head of Jewellery Max Fawcett. “…We might see an emerald of this quality come up for sale once every five or six years.”
Also set with diamonds, the previous record-holder fetched $6.5 million at an auction of part of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned jewelry collection in New York.