Actor Tim Curry, best known for The Rocky Horror Picture Showhas died at the age of 80. He was known for his extensive stage work and for film roles, including Clue and Muppet Treasure Island.
Curry died on Tuesday night after suffering serious health issues for more than 10 years, according to TMZ. Law enforcement sources told the outlet that no foul play is suspected in his death.
Born Timothy James Curry in Cheshire, England, in 1946, he became closely associated with the role of Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show and its 1975 film adaptation, while later in his career he worked predominantly in voice acting after suffering a major stroke in July 2012 and requiring the use of a wheelchair.
Curry was the younger child of Patricia, a school secretary, and James, a Methodist chaplain for the Royal Navy. He had an older sister, Judith, a concert pianist who died in 2001. He grew up in Plymouth and attended boarding school. In 1958, when he was 12, his father died from pneumonia.
Ten years later, Curry decided he wanted to become an actor after watching Judi Dench on stage as Sally Bowels in Cabaret at London’s Palace Theatre.
Actor and director Patrick Barlow, who shared a house with Curry while they were studying at Birmingham University, later recalled: “I remember being amazed by his extraordinary singing voice – it was just completely perfect, just something he was born with – it came ready made,” he told The Guardian.
After graduating, Curry broke through in the West End when he was cast in the original UK production of the musical Hair. To secure the role, he lied to producers about his past experience and about having an Equity card, getting around union rules that would otherwise have barred his casting. Curry, who described the part of Woof as a “liberating” experience that involved stripping off on stage, became close friends with co-star Richard O’Brien.
O’Brien later wrote the role that came to define Curry’s career: the cross-dressing mad scientist Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. The camp, sexually subversive rock musical opened in London in 1973, and Curry played the part for two years, performing on stage in New York and at the Roxy in Los Angeles. In 1975, he reprised the role in the film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Starring Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, O’Brien and Meat Loaf, The Rocky Horror Picture Show became a major cult hit and is now regarded as a classic of musical cinema. Part of its success has been credited to its popularity at midnight screenings, where audiences often dressed in the film’s distinctive BDSM-inspired costumes. The film continues to run in limited release half a century later, making it the longest-running film release of all time.
After his stroke in 2012, Curry turned largely to voice acting, an area in which he had already built up extensive credits across television, film and video games. His voice work included FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Peter Pan & the Pirates, the last of which won him an Emmy award.
Curry’s career stretched from the West End to cult cinema and voice performance, with The Rocky Horror Picture Show remaining the role for which he was best known. He died on Tuesday night at the age of 80 after years of serious health issues, with no foul play suspected, according to TMZ.
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