Tim Curry, Star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dies at 80
Tim Curry, the actor whose Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show became one of the most recognisable performances in cult cinema, has died at the age of 80.
Curry passed away peacefully at his home in the Toluca Lake neighbourhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, according to his longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz, who confirmed the date to the BBC and USA Today. His representative Sean Katz separately confirmed the death to USA Today and Page Six. A cause of death was not immediately available, Reuters reported.
TMZ was the first outlet to report Curry's death, according to PEOPLE. The original Deadline obituary, published on 27 August, contained conflicting references to the day of death — citing both Tuesday and Wednesday — before the BBC, USA Today and Page Six settled on Tuesday, 25 August.
Curry's career spanned more than five decades across film, television and theatre. He suffered a major stroke in 2012 that required brain surgery and left him using a wheelchair, but he continued to work, largely in voice acting. He died 14 years after that stroke.
Among the roles that endured longest in the public memory was Nigel Thornberry, the excitable, wildlife-documentary narrator in Nickelodeon's animated series The Wild Thornberrys, which ran for five seasons from 1998 to 2004. The franchise extended into The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002) and a crossover with Rugrats titled Rugrats Go Wild (2003).
Following news of Curry's death, several of his Wild Thornberrys co-stars paid tribute on Instagram. Lacey Chabert, who voiced Eliza Thornberry — Nigel's daughter, able to talk to animals — called Curry "incredibly kind and encouraging" and said he would be missed. Danielle Harris, who voiced Debbie, the show's moody older sister, said she recorded more scenes with Curry than anyone else on the cast and praised his "uncanny humor and naughty wit." Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist who voiced Donnie — the adopted, feral, gibberish-speaking jungle boy — recalled first seeing Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and described him as kind, smart and funny.
For fans of a certain generation, Nigel Thornberry's enthusiastic "Smashing!" was as much a part of growing up as anything Curry did on a stage or a screen. The tributes from Chabert, Harris and Flea point to what kept Curry working long after the stroke that could have ended his career: a voice that carried warmth and mischief in equal measure, and a reputation for generosity on the other side of the microphone.
