While in college, John discovered a talent for acting, and soon landed small roles in Canadian productions. In the early- to mid-70s, he was cast in children’s television shows Dr. Zunk and the Zunkins and Coming Up Rosie. John gained exposure to a wider Canadian audience in 1976, when he scored a supporting role on Ninety Minutes Live, a short-lived television show hosted by popular Canadian broadcaster, Peter Gzowski. That same year, John also became a cast member on Second City Television (SCTV), also starring Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Rick Moranis. A few years later, in 1979, John married Rosemary Margaret Hobor. The couple had two children; daughter, Jennifer in 1980, and son, Christopher, in 1984.
On SCTV, John played such recurring roles as pitch-man Johnny LaRue, talk show sidekick William B., and polka player Yosh Shmenge. He also impersonated a diverse range of celebrities while on the show, including Jerry Mathers, Orson Welles, Julia Child, Richard Burton, Luciano Pavarotti, Jackie Gleason, Tom Selleck, Gordon Pinsent, and Hervé Villechaize. John’s seven-year run with SCTV earned him two Emmy’s and catapulted his comedic talent south of the border.
Throughout the 80s, John starred in films with some of Hollywood’s best comedians, including Stripes in 1981, with Bill Murray; Splash in 1984, with Tom Hanks and Eugene Levy; Planes, Trains & Automobiles in 1987, with Steve Martin; Spaceballs in 1987, with Rick Moranis; and Brewster's Millions in 1985, with Richard Pryor. John’s non-comedic roles include playing a lawyer in JFK in 1991, and an Olympic athlete turned bobsled trainer in Cool Runnings in 1993, which he also co-produced. John’s last completed film role was American sheriff Bud Boomer in Canadian Bacon in 1995, a Michael Moore film about the United States declaring war against Canada.
In 1989, John was featured in animated series Camp Candy, about a fictional summer camp run by Counselor Candy, who taught campers the importance of ecological preservation. The cartoon complemented the success that John had with children’s audiences that same year, in the film Uncle Buck in 1989, which also starred Macaulay Culkin.
In 1991, John became co-owner of the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts, along with former Los Angeles Kings owner, Bruce McNall and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. Also in the early 90s, John recorded a voice for the animated made-for-TV movie The Magic 7. Although the film started production in 1990 and was originally slated to air in 1997, it was postponed for 2005 and has since been postponed indefinitely.
In 1994, John died of a heart attack at the age of fourty-three, on location for the filming of Wagons East in Durango, Mexico. Although he had made recent steps to improve his health by quitting smoking and losing weight, he succumbed to the genetic predisposition to heart disease that claimed his father’s life at thirty-five. John’s funeral was broadcast live on Canadian television. In May of 2006 he was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.
YUDDY
