Tim Curry looked noticeably fragile during a Los Angeles outing in April, just four months before his death on Tuesday at the age of 80.
The beloved actor became a cult legend in 1975 with his unforgettable performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a role that cemented his place in pop culture and made him especially cherished within the LGBTQ community.
Though Curry made Los Angeles his permanent home in 1988 as his Hollywood career continued to flourish, he remained closely connected to his British heritage.
In one of what would become his final public appearances, the screen and stage star was seen visiting a neighborhood shop known for stocking British groceries, sweets and nostalgic favorites from across the pond.
Curry, using a wheelchair and accompanied by a caregiver, spent time browsing inside the Friar Tuck Shoppe, located beside the well-known Robin Hood British Pub in Sherman Oaks.
He carried a bright floral Harrods bag from the famed London department store, apparently ready to fill it with a few familiar comforts from home.
Tim Curry appeared frail while out in a wheelchair in Los Angeles this April, only four months before his death on Tuesday at 80
Despite settling permanently in Los Angeles in 1988, the actor and singer paid tribute to his English roots during one of his last public sightings
Curry etched his name indelibly in showbiz history with his 1975 turn as the ‘sweet transvestite’ Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Our News Outlet has contacted Curry’s representative for comment.
In spite of his heavily lidded eyes and the general impact of the stroke on his health, Curry retained a dapper elan in a stylish striped button-up shirt.
Amid the flood of tributes he received after his death was an X post by his Clue co-star Michael McKean, who made reference to his punishing final decline.
‘My last conversation with Tim Curry was about life and love and laughter,’ wrote McKean. ‘The grim physical state he found himself in has now ended, a blessing. Our blessing was that we had Tim Curry in our lives. RIP, my friend.’
Weeks after the sighting at the Friar Tuck Shoppe, Curry reunited with another Clue castmate, Lesley Ann Warren, to appear at a 40th anniversary screening of the film.
Warren posted to Instagram at the time that she had ‘the most marvelous time’ at the event, raving about the ‘joy’ of ‘sharing the stage with the brilliant Tim.’
In the wake of his death, she posted: ‘My dear companion in crime, the brilliant, hilarious, hysterically funny , magician of artistry has left us. What an unbelievable joy to have shared a sound stage with him and to engage with such a master talent. I adored him. Bless his wild and inspired soul. Love you Tim.’
No foul play was suspected after Curry was found dead at his home this Tuesday, having suffered through years of health problems.
He offered a frank account of his stroke in an interview he gave last year, crediting the masseuse who spotted the unfolding crisis with saving his life.
He turned 80 on April 19, four days before St George’s Day, and was glimpsed around that time stopping off at a British goods market in the San Fernando Valley
With the assistance of a caregiver, Curry could be seen emerging in from the Friar Tuck Shoppe, nestled next to the Robin Hood British Pub in Sherman Oaks
Curry, who has been wheelchair-bound since he suffered a stroke in 2012, kept a colorful floral Harrods bag slung festively from one of the handlebars
In spite of his heavily-lidded eyes and the general impact of the stroke on his health, Curry retained a dapper elan in a stylish stripped button-up shirt
Amid the flood of tributes he received after his death was an X post by his Clue co-star Michael McKean, who made reference to his punishing final decline
‘My last conversation with Tim Curry was about life and love and laughter,’ wrote McKean: ‘The grim physical state he found himself in has now ended, a blessing’
He offered a frank account of his stroke in an interview he gave last year, crediting the masseuse who spotted the unfolding crisis with saving his life
Curry suffered two brain bleeds during the medical emergency, which he did not even realize was happening because he did not feel any of the symptoms as he lay on the massage table in his Los Angeles home.
‘It was so strange,’ Curry told CBS Sunday Morning in October 2025. ‘I was having a massage and the guy who was giving me a massage said, “I’m worried about you, I think we should call a doctor.”
‘I felt fine, I had no symptoms that I was aware of, but clearly he had noticed some.
‘He called 911 and an ambulance came and they carried me down the stairs of my house on a stretcher and put me in an ambulance and gave me morphine, which was interesting. I wasn’t in pain.
‘I was extremely nervous because I didn’t know what was going on. They didn’t know I’d had a stroke and I didn’t know either.
‘I said, can you take me to Cedars-Sinai, which is probably the best hospital in the city, and they said they had to take me to a nearer one, which was a Kaiser Permanente.’
Curry said that when doctors told him he had suffered a stroke, he ‘thought immediately’ of his father, James Curry, who survived a stroke when the Rocky Horror star was just 11 years old.
‘I knew that a lot of people didn’t survive a stroke, and that he was an exception, and so I was scared,’ he said.
Weeks after the sighting at the Friar Tuck Shoppe, Curry reunited with another Clue castmate, Lesley Ann Warren, to appear at a 40th anniversary screening of the film
Curry said he had brain surgery and was in hospital for ‘about a month’ afterwards for rehabilitation.
‘I had to learn how to speak again, that was very weird,’ he said. ‘I hated not being able to speak because I speak a lot. I have to be told to shut up a lot. I love words, I love to communicate.’
Curry, who was best known for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter in cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, died at his LA home last night, as confirmed by his manager the following day.
He had been suffering with serious health issues for more than a decade and no foul play is suspected.
After the 1973 role that made his name, Curry went on to join the cast of 1992’s Home Alone 2 – playing Mr Hector, a stuffy and suspicious concierge at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Between 2004 and 2007, Curry portrayed King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on stage in Chicago, Broadway and the West End.
