Camden Toy, the actor best known for playing unforgettable vampires and demons on the WB series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel,” died Monday after a two-year battle with Pancreatic cancer. He was 68.
Toy appeared in the fourth season Buffy episode “Hush” as one of the demonic gentlemen. He played the skin-eating demon Gnarl in season seven's “Same Time, Same Place.” He also appeared as the original Turok-Han vampire.
In “Angel,” Toy played the ancient, Nosferatu-like vampire “The Prince of Lies” in the World War II flashbacks of season five's “Why We Fight.”
Toy was also a regular on the series Goodnight Burbank and played Igor Chambers on the Peacock web series The Bay.
The actor has appeared on the big screen in dozens of productions, most recently in “Average Joe” in 2019.
His partner Bea Henderson wrote on Facebook last week about Toy's deteriorating condition:
“He was diagnosed in February last year after months of mysterious pain. For many reasons, we very much hoped for at least a longer and more fruitful time on planet Earth. Even the newer challenges felt more like hiccups. Unfortunately, it looks like we have reached the end of our medical treatments. His condition has deteriorated greatly in the last two months and has deteriorated enormously in the last few days.”
Among the answers is one from Guillermo del Toro's collaborator Doug Jones, who worked alongside Toy as one of the gentlemen on Buffy.
“That’s a tough question,” Jones said. “So many memories, including working together, laughing for decades, sharing mutual friends, meetings, trips, conventions and hugs with each other and with our fans.
“Knowing Camden Toy meant loving Camden Toy. We may have met on the set of Buffy as two hideous-looking “gentlemen,” but that only resulted in a close friendship that would last twenty-four years.
“It is rare to find a man so cheerful, smiling, smart, talented, giggly, hugging, so good at listening with his heart, and always approachable to everyone he knew, including his many fans.
“May he rest in God’s peace.”