Actor: John Candy

John Candy came from SCTV in Canada alongside Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, and moved into film with a particular quality that is difficult to fake: audiences simply liked him.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is the performance, and the reveal about Del Griffith’s circumstances converts a comedy into something else entirely in about ninety seconds.

Uncle Buck, Only the Lonely and Cool Runnings followed. He died in 1994 at forty-three during filming in Mexico, and the affection for him has not diminished since.