David Canary - # 117

David Canary, Star of 'All My Children' for Decades, Dies at 77

He was number 117 on the list. 

David Canary, who for nearly three decades played the twin brothers Adam and Stuart Chandler on the ABC soap opera All My Children, has died. He was 77.

Canary, who earlier portrayed Candy Canaday, the ranch foreman of the Ponderosa, on the iconic NBC Western Bonanza, died Nov. 16 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Wilton, Conn., his family announced.

The blue-eyed Canary first appeared on All My Children as Adam in 1984 and received five outstanding actor Emmy Awards and 16 nominations through 2001. He retired from acting in 2010 but returned to play the Chandler brothers for several days before the show’s emotional September 2011 finale.

Adam was underhanded, evil and one of Pine Valley's wealthiest men, while Stuart — who was introduced to the show a year after Adam — was his meek, traumatized twin brother. Adam often impersonated Stuart to get what he wanted, once locking up Stuart in the Chandler mansion for years.

Adam also used blackmail to manipulate several people, targeting Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) so that she would marry him again and forcing Leo du Pres (Josh Duhamel) to help break up Marian (Jennifer Bassey) and Stuart’s marriage. He also convinced Gloria Marsh (Teresa Blake) to leave Stuart and marry him instead, later imprisoning her in an abandoned building.

And when drugged by David Hayward (Vincent Irizarry), Adam accidentally shot and killed his brother — but, it turns out, he wasn’t dead at all!

A native of Elwood, Ind., Canary played offensive and defensive end for Ohio’s famed Massillon Tigers of Washington High School before earning a football scholarship to the University of Cincinnati. He graduated with a major in music.

Instead of accepting an offer to turn pro with the American Football League’s Denver Broncos in its first year, Canary went to New York to pursue acting, and he made his Broadway debut in Great Day in the Morning in 1962 opposite Colleen Dewhurst.

After two years in the U.S. Army, Canary came to Los Angeles and appeared in Hombre (1967) with Paul Newman, as a mobster in The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) with Jason Robards and in Sharks' Treasure (1975) with Cornel Wilde. He also drew attention for playing Mia Farrow’s physical therapist Russ Gehring in the hugely popular ABC nighttime soap Peyton Place.

Producer David Dortort saw Canary shine in Hombre and in a two-part Gunsmoke episode in 1967 and hired him to play Canaday soon afterward. The handsome actor left briefly in a contract dispute but was with the series until it ended in 1973.

When Leonard Nimoy and the producers of Star Trek were locked in a contract dispute of their own, Canary was one of the top candidates to play Mr. Spock, according to the 1996 book Inside Star Trek — The Real Story.

Canary also played shrewd businessman Steve Frame on the NBC soap opera Another World from 1981 until 1983, when his character was killed off in a car crash, before joining All My Children.

Canary also appeared on Broadway in 1980 in Tennessee Williams’ final play, Clothes for a Summer Hotel, opposite Geraldine Page.

Survivors include his wife of more than 33 years, Maureen; children Christopher and Kathryn; brother John; and grandson Donovan.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association’s David Canary Memorial Fund.

Filmography

Film Year             Title       Role       Notes

1967      Hombre                Lamar Dean       

1967      The St. Valentine's Day Massacre              Frank Gusenberg             

1969      The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes            Mr. Walski           Uncredited

1973      Incident on a Dark Street              Peter Gallagher                 TV Movie

1974      Melvin Purvis: G-Man     Eugene T. Farber              TV Movie

1975      Sharks' Treasure               Larry     

1975      Posse    Pensteman        

1975      Johnny Firecloud              Jesse    

1990      In a Pig's Eye                     

1994      Secret Santa       Santa     Short film

Television Year Title       Role       Notes

1965-1966          Peyton Place      Dr. Russ Gehrig 26 episodes

1967      Gunsmoke          George McClaney            Episodes: "Nitro Part 1 & 2"

1967      Dundee and the Culhane               Charlie Montana               Episode: "The Dead Man's Brief"

1967      Cimarron Strip   Tal St. James      Episode: "Knife in the Darkness"

1967-1973          Bonanza               Candy Canaday 93 episodes

1971      The F.B.I.             Eugene Bradshaw            Episode: "The Last Job"

1971      Hawaii Five-O    George Episode: "3000 Crooked Miles to Honolulu"

1971      Bearcats!             Joe Bascom         Episode: "The Hostage"

1971

1972      Alias Smith and Jones     Sheriff W.D. Coffin

Doc Donovan     Episode: "Everything Else You Can Steal"

Episode: "The Strange Fate of Conrad Meyer Zulick"

1973      Police Story        Wally Baker        Episode: "Death on Credit"

1973      Kung Fu                Frank Grogan     Episode: "The Elixir"

1973

1974      The Rookies        TJ Curlew

Espositos             Episode: "Down Home Boy"

Episode: "A Test of Courage"

1975      S.W.A.T.               Blake Phillips      Episode: "Kill S.W.A.T."

1978      The Dain Curse Jack Santos        

1978      Search for Tomorrow      Arthur Benson  

1981-1983          Another World Steve Frame      

1982      American Playhouse       Bingham              Episode: "King of America"

1984-2011, 2013

1984-2009, 2011              All My Children Adam Chandler

Stuart Chandler                 (final appearance)

1997      Remember WENN           Luke Langly         Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"

1998      Law & Order       Jeremy Orenstein            Episode: "Venom"

2000

2005      One Life to Live Adam Chandler

2001      Touched by an Angel      Carter Winslow Episodes: "Shallow Water Part 1 & 2"

2011      Curb Your Enthusiasm    White Haired Man at Park            Episode: "The Bi-Sexual"