Tim Curry, the celebrated film, television and stage actor whose career spanned decades, has died aged 80.
Curry, best known to generations of fans as Dr Frank-N-Furter in the cult phenomenon The Rocky Horror Picture Show, died at his Los Angeles home last night, his manager confirmed today.
No cause of death was disclosed. Curry had lived with serious health difficulties for more than a decade after suffering a stroke in 2012 that left him unable to walk.
Beyond Rocky Horror, Curry built an enduring screen legacy with memorable roles in Clue, Annie, Home Alone 2 and It.
Although he resisted being confined to one image, Curry’s electrifying turn as the outrageous “transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania” became the performance most closely associated with his name.
In heels, fishnets and full-throttle charisma, his Frank-N-Furter was a decadent, dangerous force determined to create the perfect man for his own pleasure while upending the wholesome world of Janet and Brad.
Curry performed the role for two years, first on stage before bringing it to the big screen in the 1975 film adaptation.
He later terrified audiences as Pennywise the clown in the original 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s It, and in 1992 appeared in Home Alone 2 as Mr Hector, the prim, suspicious concierge at New York’s Plaza Hotel.
Between 2004 and 2007, he portrayed King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on stage in Chicago, Broadway and the West End.
Tim Curry was best known for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The 80-year-old also played the concierge in Home Alone 2
Curry in 2016 attending the red carpet premiere of The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do The Time Warp Again at The Roxy in West Hollywood, California
Some of his stage credits include What About Dick? My Favorite Year and Travesties, among others.
His later work saw him largely acting in comedies, including Muppet Treasure Island, Scary Movie 2 and McHale’s Navy.
Curry also voiced characters in various animated films, such as Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures and Ribbit.
In 2015, Curry was honoured with The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tony Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles.
He opened up about his health battles last year during a special screening marking The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s 50th anniversary.
Speaking to the audience at LA’s Academy Museum, he said: ‘I still can’t walk, which is why I’m in this silly chair, and that’s very limiting.
‘So, I won’t be singing and I won’t be dancing very soon. I still have real problems with my left leg.’
Since suffering a stroke aged 66, the legendary actor had remained largely out of the public eye.
Born Timothy James Curry in Cheshire, England, in 1946, Curry was the younger child of Patricia, a school secretary, and James, a Royal Navy chaplain. He had an older sister, Judith – a concert pianist, who died in 2001.
Curry grew up in Plymouth and went to boarding school. Then, in 1958, when he was just 12 years old, he lost his father to pneumonia.
Between 2004 and 2007, Curry played King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on stage in Chicago, Broadway and the West End
The actor in costume during the filming of the television mini-series Will Shakespeare at the ATV studios in Elstree, Hertfordshire, in June 1976
Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975
Despite his wish to avoid being typecast, Curry’s sensational portrayal of the mad ‘transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania’ inevitably defined his career
Curry pictured again in 1975 but without the makeup
The tragedy had a profound impact on his childhood.
Ten years later, the actor watched Judi Dench onstage as Sally Bowles in Cabaret at London’s Palace Theatre, a moment that cemented his ambition to become an actor.
After studying at drama and English and the University of Birmingham, he burst onto the West End scene.
One of his earliest roles was in the original UK production of of the Hair – a hippie musical.
To land the part, he lied to producers about the experiences of his youth and claimed to have an Equity card – allowing him to bypass union rules that would otherwise have prevented him from being cast.
He fondly remembered the experience of playing Woof, the free-spirited hippie, as ‘liberating’.
Crucially, however, he made firm friends with his co-star Richard O’Brien – who went on the write the role that would define Curry’s career – Dr Frank-N-Furter.
Curry took on the stage role for two years, performing in New York and at the Roxy in Los Angeles, and his part culminated in the 1975 film version.
For many years, he rarely discussed The Rocky Horror Picture Show, fearing he would forever be cast in similar roles.
He previously recalled the opening night during the show’s Broadway debut as ‘very exciting’ but said the critics were far too harsh.
‘I had to go on the Today Show the next day and they read the reviews, which were appalling,’ he explained. ‘That brought me down. It was very cruel.’
The reviews described his performance as ‘a mixture of Joan Crawford and Burt Lancaster’ and ‘Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Marc Bolan all in one’
In 2011, Curry was scheduled to appear in Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, but he withdrew from the production at the last minute citing ill health.
Actor and director Patrick Barlow shared a house with Curry while studying at Birmingham University.
Recalling their student days, he told The Guardian: ‘I remember being amazed by his extraordinary singing voice – it was just completely perfect, just something he was born with – it came ready made.’
