Tim Curry

Tim Curry, born Timothy James Curry on April 19, 1946, in Grappenhall, Cheshire, became one of Britain’s most recognizable character actors through a career spanning stage, film, television, and voice work. He studied drama at the University of Birmingham after growing up in Hong Kong and attending Kingswood School in Bath. Before fame, he played Dr. Frank N. Furter in the London stage production of The Rocky Horror Show, Richard O’Brien’s musical parody of science fiction and horror conventions. Curry originated the role in London in 1973 and carried it into the 1975 film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film made Curry’s deliberately flamboyant corseted scientist an enduring cult-screen figure, particularly through songs including “Sweet Transvestite” and “I’m Going Home.” He did not return for the 2016 television remake but appeared in the 2016 special The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again as the Criminologist, a part portrayed in the original film by Charles Gray. His theater work also included Broadway performances in Amadeus, The Pirates of Penzance, My Favorite Year, and Spamalot. For Spamalot, the Monty Python-inspired musical, Curry received a Tony Award nomination for playing King Arthur in its original Broadway production. On screen, Curry brought a polished menace to the 1985 fantasy Legend as Darkness, the horned Lord of Darkness who seeks to extinguish daylight and marry Princess Lily. He played the calculating Wadsworth in Clue, the 1985 comedy mystery adapted from the board game; the movie famously supplied several alternate endings. Other film roles included the hotel concierge in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers, and Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island. His performance as Pennywise in the 1990 television miniseries It introduced Stephen King’s shape-shifting clown to a mass television audience. Voice acting gave Curry another prominent outlet. He voiced the villainous Nigel Thornberry in Nickelodeon’s The Wild Thornberrys and its 2002 film, and played Chancellor Palpatine in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. His distinctive voice was also heard as Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest and as the Narrator in the video game series Gabriel Knight. In 2012, Curry suffered a major stroke that affected his mobility and speech. He subsequently made public appearances, continued selected voice performances, and received the Actors Fund’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. His body of work combines cult musicals, classical theater, family entertainment, villainy.