Youthful studio executive who worked his way up from the proverbially mail room to executive production positions at Warner Bros. in the 1980s where he played a central role in the greenlighting of such socially and racially relevant films as "New Jack City" (1991) and Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" (1992). Noted for his ability to make rapid decisions and his creative relationships with such Hollywood talent as Barbra Streisand, Richard Donner, Tim Burton and James Brooks, Canton left his position as executive vice president of worldwide motion picture production at Warner Bros. in 1991 to join his former colleague, Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Peter Guber, as president of Columbia Pictures with an agenda to accelerate the number of projects. After nearly five years at the helm, Canton resigned from Columbia in September 1996.