Canary was born in Elwood, Indiana, and grew up in Massillon, Ohio.[2][3] He was the middle son of Hilary Canary and Lorena Heal.[4] His brothers were actor John Canary, who once had a role in All My Children, and writer Hilary Glenn Canary. The brothers were purportedly great-great-nephews of Martha Jane Canary, Calamity Jane.[5][unreliable source?][6]
Football
Canary starred as an end on both offense and defense on the football team at Massillon Washington High School, where he graduated in 1956.[7] The school honored him as a Distinguished Citizen 35 years later in 1991.[8] He earned a football scholarship to the University of Cincinnati, where he was a three-year letterman from 1957 to 1959 and the recipient of the John Pease Award, as the program's best lineman, in his junior and senior years.[9] Canary trained as a singer at the university's College of Arts and Sciences and received his bachelor's degree in music in 1960.[10] He was picked by the Denver Broncos in the inaugural 1960 American Football League (AFL) draft.[11][7] Commenting on the selection in a 2004 interview for the Archive of American Television, he said, "I thought they were out of their minds. I was 172 pounds, I wasn't very fast, and I couldn't catch a pass. They called me stone fingers."[12]
Career
Instead of signing with the Broncos, he opted to head to New York City to become an actor.[7] He served two years in the United States Army, where he entered an All-Army Entertainment Contest in 1963. After ending his service, Canary moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.[13]
A contract dispute that year between Leonard Nimoy and the producers of Star Trek forced Herb Solow, Robert H. Justman, and Gene Roddenberry to compile a list of candidates for consideration to take over the role of Mr. Spock. As revealed in Solow and Justman's book, Star Trek - The Inside Story, Canary was one of these candidates.[14]
David Dortort, the creator and producer of Bonanza, saw Canary in Hombre and cast him in the role of the new ranch foreman, Candy Canaday. Dortort said that Canary was "the kind of kid who comes on and suddenly, there's nobody else on the screen." Canary left Bonanza in June 1970 after a contract dispute. He returned in May 1972 after Dan Blocker's death. Canary said that he loved Bonanza, except for filming in Nevada in 100° heat.
Canary's first daytime television role was on Search for Tomorrow, where he played the short-term role of Liza Walton's agent. He had two short stints on The Doctors as Far Wind, a cult leader who took the hospital staff hostage and killed Melissa Dancy (Dorian Lo Pinto). In 1981, he assumed the role of Steve Frame on the soap opera Another World. The revival of the Steve/Alice/Rachel love triangle was unsuccessful, and he left the show in 1983 after his character was killed off.
On New Year's Eve in 1983, he joined the cast of All My Children in the role of Adam Chandler.[16][17] The following year, he was also cast as Adam's meek twin brother, Stuart, who everybody (including the audience) believed was Adam. A May 2009 storyline had Adam accidentally shoot and kill Stuart while using prescription narcotics. Canary retired from full-time acting and departed from All My Children in 2010; his last episode was taped in late March and aired on April 23, 2010. He announced that he intended to return to AMC occasionally. He reprised both of his roles as Adam and Stuart Chandler for several days before the series finale on ABC on September 23, 2011. In 2013, he returned to the role of Adam when the show began to produce online episodes.
Canary was known to be affable and accessible to fans of both All My Children and Bonanza.[15] At Disney resorts, he did "meet and greet" appearances where he signed autographs for AMC fans. He also made several appearances at the Lake Tahoe site of the Ponderosa Ranch, a tourist attraction from 1967 to 2004. His last appearance at the ranch in character was in 2002 for a PAX-TV special. In March 2012, David was named as the replacement for the ailing, 90-year-old Jack Klugman in a limited-run production of Twelve Angry Men in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[18]
Personal life
Canary was married to actress Maureen Maloney, with whom he had a son, Chris, and a daughter, Kate.[19] With his first wife, actress Julie M. Anderson, he had a daughter, Lisa.
Death
Canary died on November 16, 2015 at an assisted living facility in Wilton, Connecticut, at the age of 77;[13][20][21][22][23] he had been diagnosed with dementia years before.[24]
^Shister, Gail. "2 Impostors Taking on Chef Tell on WIOQ." Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) November 10, 1983, Final, Features Television Radio: D14. NewsBank. Web. June 11, 2014.
^Shister, Gail. "Prime-Time Anchor Seen as Male Role." Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) November 17, 1983, Final, Features Television Radio: C18. NewsBank. Web. June 11, 2014.
^"Playbill". March 6, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
^Baker, Kendra (November 24, 2015). "David Canary dies at 77". Wilton Bulletin. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
