When Candice Daly was found dead in a rundown apartment on December 14th, 2004 the cause of death was listed as unknown. There were allegations of drugs. The Globe promptly claimed that Candice had been sacked from her role as vengeance seeking psychotic Veronica Landers on TV’s ‘The Young and the Restless’ (which she played from 1997-98) because of drug problems and ensuing “work difficulty”. She was written off the show by having her character impaled on a pitchfork! Ouch! A scream queen always leaves in style.

Candice was born on January 4th 1963 – she was 41 at the time of her death rather than the often-reported 38. In that time she had done a lot of living. She grew up fatherless in North Hollywood with her mother Eileen who was prone to drinking. Given the place and her daughter’s captivating beauty, mom pushed Candice into a career in acting and modeling. After studying with acting coaches for several years she began getting cast on television in the early 80s – most notably in ’Mike Hammer’ and ‘Hotel’.

Then came several low budget and direct to video films. She starred in ‘Zombie 4: After Death’ (1988) alongside gay XXX icon Jeff Stryker (!!) in his first “straight” film role. This Shriek Show release is about a voodoo curse on a remote island which throws open the gates of hell releasing the undead to devour the living. Next she played the lead, Eve Black, in the deliciously lurid sci-fi thriller-chiller ‘Liquid Dreams’ in 1991. In her finest screen role Daly, as Eve, comes to the city from Kansas to visit her sister, who is promptly found dead in her apartment. Determined to get to the bottom of the murder she goes undercover in the lurid “taxi dancer” world her sister inhabited. Also starring in ‘Liquid Dreams’ were John Doe, Mark S. Manos, Tracey Walter, and Mink Stole. After that she played duel roles as Wendy and Teresa Lazzare in ‘Where Truth Lies’ (1996) costarring John Savage, Kim Cattrall, Malcolm McDowell, and Sam ‘Flash Gordon’ Jones. In that film Ms. Daly is raped on a car hood as well as in an apartment, is in a fiery car crash, and has her neck snapped! Her final film role was in the 1999 movie ‘Dead Women in Lingerie’ with Jerry Orbach, Maura Tierney, and Lyle Waggoner about (you guessed it!) a psychopath killing off gorgeous models.

Although drugs were indeed found in the actress’ system, Daly’s longtime boyfriend at the time of her death claims that LA cops bungled the investigation. He alleges it was actually a case of Candice dying at the hands of an obsessed fan who befriended and drugged the star (using the date rape drug – GHB) before taking her to the rundown apartment and killing her. In either scenario it’s another sad ending to a Hollywood story.