R.I.P. David Canary, 1938-2015

David Canary, five-time Emmy winner for his dual roles as Adam Chandler and Stuart Chandler on All My Children, died Nov. 16 at the age of 77: "RIP David Canary, Veteran TV Actor and 'All My Children' Star"

Longtime TV fans would remember him from Bonanza as ranch foreman Candy; he replaced Pernell Roberts in the cast. Following that, he did theater and prime-time TV, and dabbled in a couple of other soap operas before his long-running stint on All My Children. He also guested on various shows in the years since, such as S.W.A.T., Hawaii Five-O, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and, of course, like every actor in New York, he's been on Law & Order.

As Adam he was the kind of rich, arrogant, elite, upper crust bastard that Columbo would usually face off against. But a year after Adam was introduced, they brought on Stuart his twin, who was kind where Adam was cruel, and well, simple, where Adam was cunning.

And Canary really played both parts well, so well that he could even do the moments where Adam's schemes led him to impersonate Stuart, or when he would pressure Stuart to impersonate Adam -- and you the viewer could still keep the personalities straight. Adam could put on Stuart's clothes, but his innate arrogance was still palpable. Likewise, Stuart could wear Adam's business suits, but his sweet nature would still shine through. One of Canary's cohorts, Michael E. Knight, noted that sometimes Canary would have to play both characters in the same scene (thanks to TV wizardy), and he was so good he could even cut himself off! No wonder he won five Emmys!

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  • Late in the series they had "Adam" killed, later revealing it was actually Stuart, which hit Adam hard, causing him to rethink his life and become a (somewhat) better person. For awhile anyway. Oddly I can't think of any superheroes that came back by having an identical twin brother assume their identity. Comics dropped the ball on that one.

  • That's what happened in the Spy Smasher serial.

  • They also sort of used the idea in Zorro the Gay Blade, but the real Zorro was still alive.

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