Remembering Candy

The tributes to Candice Rialson are starting to come in.

At Video WatchBlog, Tim Lucas was able to contact Hollywood Boulevard co-directors Joe Dante and Allan Arkush to get their reactions to the news. Hopefully we will hear from other people who worked with her in the coming days and weeks.

Marty McKee wrote a heartfelt piece at his blog, Johnny LaRue's Crane Shot, along with his reviews of her greatest hits. An excellent overview of her career, which can act as a trip down memory lane for her long-time fans as well as an excellent primer for those who are just hearing of her because of her passing,... even though I do like Pets more than he does. Marty has also posted the trailer for Chatterbox, via YouTube.

Dennis Cozzalio posted his memories at at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule along with a great screenshot of Candy and Dick Miller at the drive-in.

DVD Drive-In reviewer Casey Scott was one of the first to comment with a message on his MySpace blog this morning.

Casey also started a thread at the Mobius Home Video Forum and it is shaping up to be one of the hubs of discussion and commiseration on the web. There is also a discussion going on at the DVD Maniacs forum.

The Code Red DVD blog was where the news first broke, and if any more details are to be forthcoming, they'll probably have them first.

Meanwhile, I'm grieving the American way, by spending money. I just bought this:



UPDATE --- FROM CODE RED DVD --- (Friday night)

Bill Norton from Code Red just posted some more information on their MySpace blog regarding the circumstances of Candice's death. Bill writes, "My brother, Walter Olsen, spoke with Candice's husbands brother today. He was told the cause of death was liver disease. Apperently her liver got infected. He told Walter she was cremated, as that was her wishes. He told Walter near the end she was still in good mood, cracking jokes." And then the post takes a truly heartbreaking turn. Bill continues, "He asked him about if she wanted nothing to do with her acting past,as there was no obituary, and no news in the trade papers. No, as Candice and her family has all her films on video, and she talked about her film career to them all the time, and told Walter she would have been honored and more than happy to do a on camera interview and a commentary for the PETS DVD. Near the end, she was still talking about her days in Hollywood to her close friends and family. Sadly, she didn't know she still had fans. Fighting back the tears, Walter asked if he can make a retrospective documentary regarding Candices life, in which he replied Candice would have loved that, as she would have wanted to be remembered, as Walt's been invited to visit them next time he is in California."

It is very sad that Candy died without knowing that so many people remembered her so fondly, and this confirms that the lack of notice of her passing was not by choice, but by a tragic lack of interest by Hollywood and the film industry. It sounds like Code Red is already planning a video tribute to her, presumably to be included on the forthcoming Pets dvd. I wouldn't have thought that this story could have gotten any sadder, but this news just puts an extra depressing twist on things.

Special thanks to Bill and Walter at Code Red for getting the details out to all of us.