David Canary

David Hoyt Canary (August 25, 1938 – November 16, 2015) was an American actor born in Elwood, Indiana, who grew up in Massillon, Ohio. He was the middle son of Hilary Canary and Lorena Heal, and had two brothers: actor John Canary, who appeared in All My Children, and writer Hilary Glenn Canary. The brothers were purportedly great-great-nephews of Martha Jane Canary, known as Calamity Jane.

Canary graduated from Massillon Washington High School in 1956, where he played end on both offense and defense for the football team. The school recognized him as a Distinguished Citizen in 1991, thirty-five years after his graduation. He went on to the University of Cincinnati on a football scholarship, earning three letters between 1957 and 1959 and receiving the John Pease Award as the program's best lineman in both his junior and senior years. Alongside his athletic career, he trained as a singer in the university's College of Arts and Sciences, earning a bachelor's degree in music in 1960. The Denver Broncos selected him in the inaugural 1960 American Football League draft, but Canary declined to sign, later describing himself in a 2004 Archive of American Television interview as weighing 172 pounds, lacking speed, and unable to catch a pass. He chose instead to pursue acting in New York City.

He served two years in the United States Army, entering an All-Army Entertainment Contest in 1963, before relocating to Los Angeles to continue his acting career. His Broadway career spanned from 1961 to 1980 and included three productions: The Happiest Girl in the World, Great Day in the Morning, in which he appeared alongside Colleen Dewhurst, and Clothes for a Summer Hotel, the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's play starring Geraldine Page. A baritone, Canary also performed in numerous musical stage productions outside of Broadway, including Kismet, Man of La Mancha, The Fantasticks, Sweeney Todd, and Carousel, as well as dramatic stage work in The Seagull, Macbeth, and Clarence Darrow. In 2004, he appeared as mathematical genius Robert in a production of David Auburn's Proof in Canton, Ohio.

On television, Canary held a semi-regular role as Russ Gehring on the primetime serial Peyton Place before rising to international prominence in 1967 on the NBC Western series Bonanza. Producer David Dortort cast him as ranch foreman Candy Canaday after seeing him in the Western film Hombre, which also starred Paul Newman, Richard Boone, and Cameron Mitchell. Canary left Bonanza in June 1970 following a contract dispute and returned in May 1972 after the death of Dan Blocker. During the same period, he was among the candidates considered to replace Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock on Star Trek, as documented in the book Star Trek: The Inside Story by Herb Solow and Robert Justman. His additional film work from that era included the role of mobster Frank Gusenberg in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. He also guest-starred on numerous primetime series, among them Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-O, Kung-Fu, Alias Smith and Jones, Law & Order, and Touched by an Angel, and appeared as a locomotive engineer in the film Atomic Train.

In daytime television, Canary played a short-term role on Search for Tomorrow and appeared twice on The Doctors as Far Wind, a cult leader who took hospital staff hostage. In 1981, he joined Another World as Steve Frame, departing in 1983 when the character was killed off. On New Year's Eve 1983, he joined the cast of All My Children as Adam Chandler, and the following year was additionally cast as Adam's twin brother Stuart. He received sixteen Daytime Emmy Award nominations for the role and won five times as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Canary retired from full-time acting and left All My Children in 2010, with his final episode airing on April 23 of that year. He reprised both roles for the ABC series finale on September 23, 2011, and returned again as Adam Chandler when the show produced online episodes beginning in 2013. In March 2012, he was named as the replacement for Jack Klugman in a limited-run production of Twelve Angry Men in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Canary was married twice. With his first wife, actress Julie M. Anderson, he had a daughter, Lisa. His second marriage, to actress Maureen Maloney, produced a son, Chris, and a daughter, Kate. He died on November 16, 2015, at an assisted living facility in Wilton, Connecticut, at the age of 77, having been diagnosed with dementia years before his death.