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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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House Ethics Committee planned to vote Friday on whether to release report on Matt Gaetz
The House Ethics Committee, which has been conducting an investigation into sexual misconduct and obstruction allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, scheduled a vote for Friday on whether to release its report, according to three sources with knowledge of the committee’s work.
Hours after President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to nominate Gaetz to be attorney general, Gaetz resigned his congressional seat, effective immediately.
“I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress, to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump Administration,” Gaetz said in his resignation letter obtained by CBS News
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that there was about an eight-week period during which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could fill his seat by setting the date for a special election.
Now that Gaetz has resigned, it is unclear whether the panel will vote on releasing the report, since Gaetz is no longer in Congress.
There is precedent in Congress on the Senate side for an ethics committee report to become public after a member resigns from Congress, however. In 2011, this happened when Sen. John Ensign of Nevada resigned amid allegations that he tried to hide an extramarital affair.
But it’s not clear that that would apply to the House, leaving open the possibility that the report on Gaetz would not be released.
In June, the House Ethics Committee released a statement saying it was investigating a range of allegations against Gaetz, including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and bribery.
Multiple sources at the time told CBS News that four women had informed the House Ethics Committee that they had been paid to go to parties that included sex and drugs, and that Gaetz had also attended. The committee has Gaetz’s Venmo transactions that allegedly show payments for the women.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has called the committee’s investigation a “frivolous” smear campaign.
Some of the allegations of sexual misconduct under review by the committee were also the subject of a previous Department of Justice probe into Gaetz. Federal investigators sought to determine if Gaetz violated sex trafficking and obstruction of justice laws, but no charges were filed.
The House Ethics Committee resumed its investigation into Gaetz in 2023, following the Justice Department’s decision not to pursue charges against him.
Gaetz has long blamed then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, also a Republican, for the probe. And Gaetz later led the movement to sack McCarthy as speaker.
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Democratic Congressman on the party’s messaging, focus
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11/13: The Daily Report – CBS News
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