Tim Curry, the singular British actor whose career stretched from the outrageous sexuality of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to the nightmare fuel of Stephen King’s It, has died. He was 80.
Curry died Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. He had suffered a major stroke in 2012 but continued working in voice roles and occasional screen appearances in the years that followed.
For generations of fans, Curry will forever be Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the corset-wearing scientist at the center of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Take a look below:
He originated the role in the stage production at London’s Royal Court Theatre before carrying it through larger London venues, Broadway and ultimately the 1975 film adaptation alongside Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick.
The movie initially struggled at the box office but became one of cinema’s most enduring cult phenomena, with midnight screenings turning into interactive rituals built around costumes, props, callbacks and songs including Time Warp, Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch Me and Curry’s own Sweet Transvestite.
“It’s a chance for people to try on a few roles for size,” Curry said in a 2005 NPR interview, noting that fans had written to thank him for helping them better understand themselves.
But Curry spent the rest of his career proving he was far more than one iconic performance.
He brought flamboyant villainy to Annie as Rooster Hannigan, then took a much darker turn in 1990 as Pennywise the Clown in ABC’s two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s It. More than 37 million households reportedly tuned in, and Curry’s raspy, gleefully sinister performance became one of horror television’s defining portrayals.
Director Tommy Lee Wallace later compared Curry’s improvisational energy to Robin Williams, saying his job was largely to give the actor room to work.
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Curry was equally memorable in comedy.
In Clue, he played Wadsworth, the hyperactive butler at the center of the murder mystery, delivering one of the most physical and intricately timed performances of his career. In Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, he played the suspicious Plaza Hotel concierge with a mixture of menace and comic exasperation.
His film résumé also included The Hunt for Red October, The Three Musketeers, Congo, Charlie’s Angels, Muppet Treasure Island and McHale’s Navy.
Onstage, Curry earned three Tony Award nominations.
The first came for originating Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus in 1981. He was nominated again for My Favorite Year in 1993 and a third time for playing King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot in 2005.
Curry also became one of the industry’s most prolific and recognizable voice actors.
He won a Daytime Emmy in 1990 for voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan and the Pirates and later voiced Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest and Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys. He also took over the roles of Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars following Ian Abercrombie’s death.
His television work ranged from comedy to horror and crime drama, with memorable appearances on Monk, Psych, Criminal Minds and Tales From the Crypt. His performance as an entire murderous family in the latter earned him an Emmy nomination in 1994.
Curry also recorded three rock albums in the late 1970s and early ’80s and received a Grammy nomination in 2006 for his work on the audiobook of A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning.
Born Timothy James Curry on April 19, 1946, in Cheshire, England, he began his professional career in the 1968 West End production of Hair. It was there that he met Richard O’Brien, who would later write The Rocky Horror Show.
Curry helped shape Frank-N-Furter into the character audiences eventually came to know, moving away from the original concept of a lab-coated German scientist toward something far more theatrical, sexual and dangerous.
Over the decades, that performance became inseparable from his legacy, though Curry himself always kept moving.
After his stroke in 2012 left him using a wheelchair, he continued voice work and returned to the Rocky Horror universe in Fox’s 2016 Let’s Do the Time Warp Again, this time serving as the Criminologist while Laverne Cox took over the role of Frank-N-Furter.
He also appeared in the horror film Stream in 2024.
Curry never married and had no children.
What he leaves behind is one of the most unusual bodies of work in modern entertainment — outrageous, sinister, hilarious, theatrical and utterly unmistakable.
There was only one Tim Curry. RIP.
