Tony Todd, Star of Candyman, Dead at 69

Over the past three decades, Todd also continued his TV work, appearing in mostly sci-fi, fantasy and spy shows such as The X-Files, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Smallville, Charmed, 24, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

In the latter, he played both Klingon Commander Kurn as well as an adult Jake Sisko, son of Captain Benjamin Sisko, who spends decades of his life trying to rescue his father following an accident in the episode “The Visitor,” a favorite among Trekkies.

“‘The Visitor’ changed my life,” Todd told StarTrek.com in 2010, “not just in terms of convention appearances, but at the time that episode was done the Internet was just exploding and I remember sitting for hours just basking in the glow of the love that was being written about that single episode.”

He said that he accepted the role after his aunt, who raised him as a single parent, had passed away, adding that playing Jake was an “homage to the parental figure in my life that I loved and cherished.”

“I was in a state of shock and I wasn’t able to work for four months,” he recalled. “It was the role that got me up off the bed, out of the house, and into the producers’ office.”