Cinema Icon Tim Curry, 'Rocky Horror' Star, Passes Away at 80

Tim Curry, the flamboyant star who rose to international fame in the 1970s through his iconic portrayal of Dr. Frank N. Furter in "The Rocky Horror Show" and its cinematic adaptation, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," passed away peacefully on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 80. His longtime manager, Marcia Hurwitz, confirmed his death, though a cause was not immediately available. Curry had been managing several health issues since suffering a severe stroke in 2012.

While Curry, a versatile English actor, singer, and voice performer, garnered critical acclaim, including a Daytime Emmy Award and nominations for Tony and Olivier Awards for a diverse range of roles, his career was undeniably defined by his memorable depiction of the "sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania." He originated the role on stage in London under director Jim Sharman, bringing the character to theaters in Los Angeles and New York before starring in Sharman's 1975 film. Despite an initial box office flop, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" transcended its early reception to become a monumental cult classic.

Much like Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, whose roles in 1930s Universal horror films (which partly inspired "Rocky Horror") solidified their personas, Curry's image was forever etched by his outrageous, bustier-clad mad scientist. In a prophetic 1975 TV interview, Curry acknowledged his hesitation about the role, stating, "I was hesitant in that, if it worked, it might be a difficult image to shake off. But really, I’ve often thought that it wasn’t worth doing unless you took a risk."

At the peak of the "Rocky Horror" phenomenon in the late 1970s, Curry ventured into music, releasing three rock albums with A&M Records, including "Fearless" (which reached No. 53 in 1979) and "Simplicity" (No. 112 in 1981).

Beyond his defining role, Curry demonstrated immense versatility throughout a career spanning over half a century. He began his professional stage career in 1968 in the London company of "Hair." Throughout the mid-1970s, he distinguished himself in various productions at the Royal Court Theatre and Citizens Theatre, tackling works by Shakespeare, Brecht, Buchner, and Stoppard before "Rocky Horror" launched him into stardom.

His stage achievements continued with a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Mozart in the 1981 New York production of "Amadeus" and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for his performance as the Pirate King in the 1982 Drury Lane staging of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance." He later returned to Broadway as the actor Alan Swann in "My Favorite Year" and as King Arthur in both New York and London productions of "Monty Python’s Spamalot," the musical directed by Mike Nichols.

Despite a prolific film and television career, and perhaps due to the indelible impression of Frank N. Furter, Curry never achieved the screen stardom commensurate with his immense talent. Nonetheless, he delivered strong performances as the con man Rooster Harrigan in John Huston’s "Annie" (1982) and, under extensive makeup, as the arch-villain Darkness in Ridley Scott’s fantasy "Legend" (1985). He also drolly played the butler Wadsworth in the screen adaptation of the board game "Clue," which, like "Rocky Horror," gained cult status after an initial commercial disappointment.

His television work included a starring role as villain Bill Sikes in the 1982 TV movie "Oliver Twist" and an arc on the CBS crime show "Wiseguy" in 1989. While he occasionally took straight dramatic roles in films like "The Hunt for Red October" (1990) and "The Three Musketeers" (1993), comedy proved to be his métier. Notable comedic roles include Plaza Hotel concierge Mr. Hector in "Home Alone 2" (1992), heavy Jigsaw in the "Lethal Weapon" spoof "Loaded Weapon 1" (1993), Long John Silver in "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996), Russian terrorist Major Vladakov in "McHale’s Navy" (1997), and Gomez Addams in the direct-to-video "Addams Family Reunion."

On television, Curry earned a Daytime Emmy for voicing Captain Hook in the 1990-91 Fox animated series "Peter Pan and the Pirates" and delivered a memorable performance as Pennywise the Clown in the 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s "IT." His attempts at leading live-action TV series, "Over the Top" (1997) and the revival of "Family Affair" (2002), were short-lived, both folding after their first season.

After the turn of the millennium, Curry was primarily seen in supporting roles, often in comedic films such as "Charlie’s Angels" (2000) and "Scary Movie 2" (2001), with occasional dramatic turns in works like the horror film "Ritual" (2002) and the biopic "Kinsey" (2004).

Beginning with "FernGully: The Last Rainforest" in 1992, Curry frequently lent his voice to animated features for theatrical release and home video, including "The Pebble and the Penguin" (1995), "The Rugrats Movie" (1998), "Rugrats in Paris" (2000), and "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" (2002), the latter being a spinoff of the long-running children's show where he was also a featured voice actor. This voice work became his principal employment after his severe stroke in 2012 confined him to a wheelchair.

In poignant later appearances, Curry served as the narrator in the 2016 TV movie remake, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again," where Laverne Cox portrayed Frank N. Furter. Four years later, he reprised Frank N. Furter in a live table reading for a Joe Biden presidential campaign fundraiser in Wisconsin.

Born on April 19, 1948, in rural Grappenhall, Cheshire, Curry's family moved to South London after his father's death in 1958. A gifted singer and actor from a young age, he graduated from the University of Birmingham with a dual degree in English and drama. His role as Woof in "Hair" marked his first professional theatrical endeavor. It was during this time that he met Richard O’Brien, a member of the show's touring company, who shared the manuscript for a musical send-up of classic creature features, "old dark house" horror films, and B science fiction pictures, infused with post-sexual revolution naughtiness.

Convinced of the show's potential, Curry auditioned for the leading role by singing Little Richard’s "Tutti Frutti" and was offered the pivotal part of Frank N. Furter by director Sharman. Following its smash debut in London, American record producer Lou Adler brought the play to L.A.’s Roxy, where it enjoyed a successful run, with its cast including Meat Loaf. However, the original New York production at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre quickly folded after only 45 performances.

Upon its initial release, 20th Century Fox’s film version, starring Curry, O’Brien, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick, seemed destined for a similar fate despite some critics, like Roger Ebert, reserving special praise for Curry’s performance. Ebert noted that Curry "bears a certain resemblance to Loretta Young in drag. He’s the best thing in the movie, maybe because he seems to be having the most fun. He’s also a capable actor…. [U]ntil the climactic scene in which everyone’s hurtled into outer space, Dr. Furter’s been the perfect hostess.”

Fox initially considered the film a write-off, as it tested abysmally and was relegated to a dismal showing in Columbus, Ohio. However, as the New York Times reported in 2015, publicist Tim Deegan noticed the success of midnight screenings of John Waters’ "Pink Flamingos" at L.A.’s independent repertory house, the Nuart. Convinced of a potential midnight audience, Deegan successfully pleaded his case to Fox’s film division prexy Alan Ladd Jr., convincing New York’s Waverly Theater to book midnight showings of the film in spring 1976.

By the time the Los Angeles Times’ Danny Sullivan reported on the movie’s extraordinary second life in 1990, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" had been showing every weekend for 12 years at the Balboa Cinema in Newport Beach. By then, Curry was the adored star of a riotously attended midnight hit, screening in approximately 175 U.S. theaters, where boisterous fans yelled out dialogue, danced in costumes, and pelted the screen with rice, toast, and frankfurters. As Sullivan succinctly wrote, “‘Rocky Horror’ is more a performance than a movie, because during screenings, art imitates art.”