Fame is a strange thing. You take someone who has a prestigious stage acting career. Add a voice as smooth as cream that would be ideal for reading bedtime stories. Throw in a Standard ‘80/’90s TV Career. And none of that matters as soon as the person plays an iconic horror villain. An association with Artists’ Collective, Inc., and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center? Not as important as Daniel Robitaille, also known as the Candyman.
But Todd is so much more. There is, as established, the stage career, which is harder to research but we’ll start there anyway. He’s done August Wilson and William Shakespeare. He was apparently in the Tim Rice/Elton John Aida, but I can’t find out as which role. (Seriously, try researching someone’s stage career, especially if they’re not particularly known for the stage.) He’s not a small man, and he’s got a lot of charisma, so it’s likely that he has amazing stage presence. Given his training, he must be a pleasure to watch perform live.
And, yes, there’s the TV. Being me, I have to start with Cop Rock. A minor role on a single episode. Even I don’t remember who he played, because I haven’t watched it in a while and he’s not that important. Much more noteworthy is his role as Kurn, The Other Son of Mogh, on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s a little frustrating that the most frequent role for black actors on TNG was as Klingons; there’s a lot to unpack there. But it’s an interesting role, and he played it four times including once on Deep Space Nine. On which he also played Adult Jake Sisko, which at least didn’t require the hours in the makeup chair.
In and among shows like The X-Files and one of the Mahershala Ali episodes of Crossing Jordan and MacGyver, he also did movies beyond just the one he’s known for. He was in The Crow, the original one, as Grange, the villain’s right-hand man. As a somewhat formerly goth Gen Xer, that’s who he is to me. Unfortunately, that’s about all that appeals to me in his movie career. I’m somewhat intrigued by Burnzy’s Last Call, wherein he plays a character called Mistress Marla, and I really do need to get around to The Man From Earth at some point, but he’s in an awful lot of D-list horror.
There’s an audio version of Dracula where he plays the main character, and that, I’m sure I’d enjoy. I’d love to listen to recordings where he narrated all kinds of things, because that is a lovely voice that would be great to soothe you to sleep. Which makes it even weirder that so many people only know him for his horror career. Just listen to his voice in interviews. Watch the TV stuff. That’s a man who could be doing a lot more voicework than he does, and I’m surprised no one has gotten him to do more of it.
Tony Todd died on November 6, 2024, after this article was posted.
