Stars remember John Candy on the 30th anniversary of his death

People chatted with some of the stars who worked with him to share their experiences about the Canadian actor, who died of a heart attack at age 43.

Candy’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles co-star Steve Martin expressed, “John’s comedy lives on, but my memory of him has the words ‘kindness’ and ‘sweetness’ in the headlines.”

Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara first worked with Candy in the early ’80s on the legendary Canadian sketch show SCTV. She said he was “just as lovely as you’d want him to be.”

O’Hara, of course, also starred as the forgetful mom in Home Alone, just one of seven films from director John Hughes in which Candy starred or cameoed.

The Conners star Laurie Metcalf appeared opposite Candy in 1989’s Uncle Buck. She said she “hadn’t done hardly any movies” at that point, but “he was so patient and generous with me.”

She recalled a scene in which she and Candy shared a dance, saying she wanted to, “drill the scene over and over.”

He obliged, “And I’m sure that it was the last thing he wanted to do, having appeared in probably every frame of that movie …” she added. Metcalf said that “sums up how big-hearted he was and what a sweetheart he was.”

Another co-star who weighed in was Candy’s Wagons East co-star Richard Lewis, who spoke with People weeks before his own death on February 27.

He recalled appearing anywhere with Candy, “was like walking with the Pope in Rome. People couldn’t believe they were in his presence. He really had that kind of swagger.”