Canary is survived by his wife, two children and a grandchild. With their dedication and service to the community, they were honored with “Distinguished Citizens of the Year” award from the YMCA in Wilton.
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Off-camera, Mr. Canary preferred to invest his time and money in charitable organizations in and around his adopted home town of Wilton, Connecticut.
Both Maloney and Canary were each philanthropists and opened the Wilton Education Foundation’s 1997 spelling bee. He also had three grown children, Lisa, Christopher, and Katy.
All reports show Canary’s cause of death as natural causes.
Before becoming a legendary member of the All My Children cast, Canary played Candy Canaday, the foreman of the Ponderosa, on NBC’s Bonanza. More recently he had made appearances on Law & Order, Touched by an Angel and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Canary was born on August 25, 1938 in Elwood, Indiana to Hillary Canary and Lorena Heal, but grew up in Massillon, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati, with a major in music. Canary won give Daytime Emmy Awards for his acting on “All My Children” and he was nominated 16 times. There he performed in summer stock, regional theater, and eventually in on and Off Broadway productions before he was drafted.
Canary’s life could have taken a far different path – the Denver Broncos gave him an offer that he turned down to pursue acting. He landed a role in the musical The Fantasticks in San Francisco. His early career included movie work on Hombre (1967) and The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967).
He played a physical therapist on the night-time soap “Peyton Place”, acted in a two-part series on “Gunsmoke”, which then led to regular role on “Bonanza” until that series concluded in 1972. Soon he met and married his wife, Maureen.
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Canary delighted audiences in the dual roles of diabolical businessmen Adam Chandler, patriarch of the wealthy Pine Valley family, and his kinder counterpart Stuart, who spends years locked in the west wing of the Chandler mansion thanks to his twin brother.
