Tim Curry, of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show,' dies at 80
Deutsche Welle · LC · trust 60/100
The gender-bending role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter put Curry on the map in 1975. He then went on to play a number of villainous roles like Gomez Addams, Pennywise and Bill Sikes, but also Mozart and William Shakespeare.
https://p.dw.com/p/5JRK5 Tim Curry had a stroke around 10 years ago and suffered severe health issues ever since [FILE: August 2016] Image: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Photo/picture alliance Advertisement Actor Tim Curry died at the age of 80, Variety, TMZ and other celebrity news outlets reported on Wednesday.
A cause of death was not immediately given but Curry had been in poor health for some time following a severe stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair and wrote in his memoir "Vagabond" last year that he was still not able to walk.
Curry won Laurence Olivier and Tony Award nominations for his work on stage in the UK and the US, as well delivering Emmy-winning TV performances later in his career.
Curry was born in Cheshire into a Navy family in 1946 and spent his life bouncing around an array of different homes in the UK and even Hong Kong. He ultimately went to school in Bath, impressing as a soprano singer, and university in Birmingham.
He played in London musicals in the late 60s and early 70s seeking his big break, which came in an unusual musical ultimately destined to graduate to the silver screen.
Curry was given the role of the lingerie-clad sweet singing transvestite Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the cult classic film "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in 1975. Despite the very German sounding name and initial rehearsals with a German and American accent, he ultimately played the mad scientist with an exaggerated upper class Belgravia accent, in what a Guardian newspaper review at the time referred to as a "garishly Bowiesque performance as the ambisextrous doctor."
He went on to play an array of other roles that involved elaborate costumes, unusual mannerisms, and often a fairly pronounced dark side in his career.
These included Gomez Addams in the "Addams Family Reunion" cinema reboot, Long John Silver in "Muppet Treasure Island," the suspsicious Plaza Hotel concierge in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," Pennywise the Clown in a miniseries based on Stephen King's novel "It," and even as the voice of Chancellor Palpatine in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." In another Star Wars, connection, Curry was even cast as Tim Burton's Joker in the "Batman" franchise, until Mark Hamill supplanted him in the role.
Curry also played some of history's most consequential figures like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, William Shakespeare, and even King Arthur — albeit in the Monty Python musical stage show "Spamalot."
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