Tim Curry, Star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dies at 80
Tim Curry, the English actor and singer who created the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 80. Variety confirmed the death. A cause was not immediately available.
Curry had suffered from several health issues since a severe stroke in 2012, according to Variety. He had largely withdrawn from public life in the years that followed, though he continued to do occasional voice work.
His career began in 1968 on the London stage, in the original West End company of the musical Hair. That counterculture production was the springboard for everything that followed, but it was his next stage role that changed his trajectory: Curry originated the part of Dr. Frank N. Furter — the "sweet transvestite" mad scientist at the centre of The Rocky Horror Show — in the 1973 London stage production, then carried the role into Jim Sharman's 1975 film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The film flopped on its initial release. It found a second life as a cult phenomenon through midnight screenings, becoming one of the most enduring interactive moviegoing experiences in cinema history and a fixture of repertory calendars worldwide.
Curry's range extended well beyond that signature role. He received a Tony Award nomination for playing Mozart in the 1981 New York production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination as the Pirate King in the 1982 Drury Lane staging of The Pirates of Penzance. That same year he appeared as the villainous Bill Sikes in a television adaptation of Oliver Twist and as the con man Rooster Harrigan in John Huston's film musical Annie.
In Ridley Scott's 1985 fantasy Legend, Curry played the arch-villain Darkness, buried under extensive prosthetic makeup that made him nearly unrecognisable. He played the butler Wadsworth in Clue, the 1985 comic ensemble adapted from the board game, a role that remains a favourite among his fans.
Curry also recorded two solo albums for A&M Records: Fearless, which reached No. 53 on the US album chart in 1979, and Simplicity, which peaked at No. 112 in 1981. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for his voice work and built a substantial career as a voice performer across animation and video games.
For audiences who discovered him at midnight screenings of Rocky Horror or on home video shelves in the 1980s, Curry was an actor who committed completely to whatever genre he was handed — musical comedy, fantasy horror, family adventure — and made each role feel larger than the film around it.
He is survived by his family. No further details have been released.
