David Hoyt Canary (born
August 25,
1938 in
Elwood, Indiana) is an
Emmy Award-winning
American actor, who starred in both
soap operas and prime time
television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman,
Candy Canaday on
Bonanza (a role he played from 1967-1970; 1972-1973) and the
dual role of
Adam & Stuart Chandler on
All My Children (1983-present).
Biography
Early life
David Canary grew up and attended high school in
Massillon, Ohio, playing football for the famed Massillon Tigers of Washington High School before earning a football scholarship to the
University of Cincinnati, where he trained as a singer and became a member of the
Sigma Chi fraternity. Soon acting became his goal, following college performances and summer stock shows.
Career
After a semi-regular role as a doctor in the prime time serial
Peyton Place, Canary first came to prominence in 1967 on the
Western series
Bonanza.
The year 1967 was very good to Canary and his resume. Canary did the classic western movie
Hombre with Paul Newman and Cameron Mitchell, guest starred in a two-part
Gunsmoke episode, and played a mobster with Jason Robards in the movie,
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
A contract dispute that year between
Leonard Nimoy and the producers of
Star Trek forced
Herb Solow,
Robert H. Justman and
Gene Roddenberry to compile a list of candidates for consideration as replacements for
Mr. Spock. As revealed in Solow and Justman's book,
Star Trek - The Inside Story, Canary was one of the "A List" candidates. When David Dortort ("Bonanza", "High Chaparral", "The Cowboys", and "Ponderosa" creator/ producer) was looking for a new Ponderosa foreman, he saw Canary in
Hombre and cast him in the role. Canary left
Bonanza in 1970 after a contract dispute with the show's producers. He would return after co-star
Dan Blocker's May 1972 death. Canary said that he loved "Bonanza", except for the on-location Nevada filming in over 100 degree heat.
In 1981, he assumed the role of Steve Frame on the
soap opera Another World. However, the effort to revive the Steve/Alice/Rachel triangle was largely unsuccessful and Canary left the show in 1983, after the character of Steve Frame was killed off in a car crash.
That same year, he joined the cast of
All My Children in the role of the cunning
Adam Chandler. The following year, he was also cast as Adam's meek -- perhaps developmentally-challenged -- twin brother,
Stuart. He has played the twins since (and as per SAG stipulations, gets paid double for performing two parts).
Additional daytime television roles have included the part of a cult leader on
The Doctors and a role on
Search for Tomorrow. Other prime time guest appearances include:
Alias Smith and Jones,
Kung-Fu, "Hawaii Five-0",
S.W.A.T"., Primus
, Remember WENN, and Touched By An Angel.
He has won five
Daytime Emmy Awards as '
Outstanding Lead Actor', and has been nominated an additional eleven times, most recently in 2008 for Best Lead Actor. A baritone, Canary has performed in such musicals as, "Man of La Mancha", "Sweeny Todd", "Kismet" and "Carousel", as well as performing in dramatic pieces such as "The Seagul", and the one man play "Clarence Darrow". Canary's favorite stage performance was when he did Tennessee Williams' Broadway production of "Clothes for a Summer Hotel" with Geraldine Page.
Canary is known to be most affable and accessible to fans of both "All My Children" and "Bonanza". At Disney resorts, he has done "meet and greet" appearances signing autographs for AMC fans. The actor has also made several appearances at the Lake Tahoe site of the Ponderosa ranch, a tourist attraction from 1967-2004.
The actor also appeared as the locomotive engineer in the movie
Atomic Train.
In 2004, he appeared as mathematical genius Robert in a well-reviewed production of
David Auburn's
Proof (play) in
Canton, OH, near his hometown of Massillon.
Personal life
Canary is married to actress Maureen Maloney, with whom he has a son, Chris, and a daughter, Kate. He is the middle son of Hilary and Lorena Canary. His brothers are actor John Canary, who once had a role on
All My Children and writer H. Glenn Canary (1934-2008). The brothers are descended from folk figure
Calamity Jane, also known as Martha Jane Canary ("Bonanza Gold", April 2006).
External links
Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor 1980-1989
Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor 1990-1999
Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor 2000-2009
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