British actor Tim Curry died on Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 80, according to TMZ. Curry had used a wheelchair and largely withdrawn from public life after suffering a stroke in 2012, the first in a series of health problems that gradually worsened his condition.
Gifted with a remarkable voice and an extraordinary ability to control and animate every muscle in his face, Curry rose to international fame as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). He knew the cross-dressing character inside out, having played him from the very start in the original stage production at a small upstairs venue in London’s Royal Court Theatre. As the musical grew in popularity, he continued in the role through its successive incarnations: first in London’s West End, then on Broadway in New York, and finally on screen alongside Susan Sarandon, Meat Loaf and Barry Bostwick in the 1975 film adaptation.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show was, and remains, a remarkable cult phenomenon. What is unusual is that the phenomenon stems not so much from the original stage musical as from the film screenings that continue to take place every month in cities around the world. The original production was itself a tribute to the most popular B-movies, the low-budget horror and science fiction films of the 1940s and 1950s that filled matinees and midnight screenings.
The plot was certainly outlandish: a newly married couple end up at the mansion of a scientist, Frank-N-Furter, who turns out to be a transvestite attempting to create a sexual servant after accidentally unfreezing a violent biker gang leader, played in the film by Meat Loaf. In the climactic reveal, Frank-N-Furter and his followers are exposed as extraterrestrials from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania.
By playing Frank N. Furter, Tim Curry became a pioneer of BDSM-inspired lingerie on the Hollywood screen, and his performance helped revive the corset as an everyday garment. Through a cross-dressing character who embodied sexual freedom and transgression, he turned Frank-N-Furter into a cultural icon of the 1970s, much as the film itself became a banner for sexual liberation and nonconformity.
In a 2005 interview, the actor said: “It gave people permission to try out different roles and see how they fitted. Maybe it helps them discover their own sexuality. I’ve certainly had some very interesting and moving mail from people saying, ‘Thank you for helping me find out who I was,’ and that’s a very lovely thing.”
The son of a Methodist chaplain and a school secretary, Timothy James Curry was born in Grappenhall in 1946. After the death of his father, when Curry was 12, the family moved to London. There, he began studying singing, having already shown an exceptional vocal talent, but he was determined not to give up acting.
He began his professional career in 1968 in the original West End production of Hair, shortly after graduating from the University of Birmingham. It proved to be a double stroke of luck: not only did he land a role in a groundbreaking musical, he also met Richard O’Brien, the writer of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Curry helped O’Brien develop the character of the mad scientist. O’Brien had originally conceived him as a German scientist in a lab coat; Curry transformed him into a corset-and-fishnet-clad transvestite with what the actor himself described as the voice of “a queen.”
Following the success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Curry sought to balance careers on stage and screen, eventually moving to Los Angeles. There, alongside his professional work, he devoted himself to another passion: gardening. His theatrical achievements included three Tony Award nominations for Best Actor. The first came in 1981 for playing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus, although he lost to his co-star Ian McKellen, who portrayed Antonio Salieri. In 1993, he was nominated for his performance as the alcoholic actor Alan Swann in the musical My Favorite Year. His third nomination was for playing King Arthur in the hugely successful musical Monty Python’s Spamalot, based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
On screen, Curry also appeared in Muppet Treasure Island as Long John Silver alongside Jim Henson’s beloved creations, as well as in popular films including Clue, Kinsey, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Annie, The Three Musketeers, The Hunt for Red October, Scary Movie 2, Congo, and Charlie’s Angels (the 2000 version). He also brought his distinctive voice to dozens of animated television series. Two years ago, he appeared in the film Stream.
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