Tim Curry, Rocky Horror Picture Show star, dies aged 80
· RTE.ieThe death has been announced of the British actor Tim Curry, best known for his starring role in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He was 80.
He died at his Los Angeles home, according to his long-time manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz.
Curry suffered a stroke in 2012 that left him partially paralysed.
A cause of death was not immediately given, but Curry had been in ill health for some time.
The actor, who launched his career in London's West End theatre district, first played the mad scientist Dr Frank-N-Furter in Rocky Horror on stage before reprising the role in the 1975 film, which is still a staple of midnight cinema showings more than 50 years later.
His other credits included the sinister clown Pennywise in a 1990 television mini-series version of Stephen King's It and films such as Annie, Clue, Charlie's Angels, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and Muppet Treasure Island.
Curry did much of his best work on stage. He was nominated for a Tony, Broadway's top honour, in 1981 for his role as Mozart in Amadeus, a tale of the great composer's interaction with jealous rival Salieri.
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Curry was also nominated for a Tony in 1993 for My Favorite Year and in 2005 for his role as King Arthur in the zany Monty Python's Spamalot.
Possessing a rich baritone voice, he was in demand as a voice actor for animated films and TV shows.
He won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991 for his voice work on the animated Peter Pan & the Pirates.
With his sinister grin and menacing laugh, Curry was frequently cast in Hollywood films as a villain – sometimes with comic overtones, which let him deliver the type of over-the-top performances for which he was famed.
"I do love those roles – they're always the best written," Curry told interviewer Andrew Kay in 2011.
He conceded that some of his movies were mediocre, singling out 1995's Congo, a tale of diamond mines and killer gorillas.
"I was really very bad in it," Curry said. "I won a Razzie Award for one of the worst performances of the year – and I richly deserved it, too."
A cult following
Curry was born in the English village of Grappenhall, Cheshire, on 19 April, 1946. His father, a Royal Navy chaplain, died when he was 12. His mother was a school secretary.
Curry studied drama at Birmingham University.
In 1973, he landed the part of Dr Frank-N-Furter in the original London stage version of The Rocky Horror Show.
He performed the play in New York and Los Angeles before it was made into a film, renamed as The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The film was not an instant hit but won a cult following in midnight screenings in New York City and elsewhere, with audience members often dressing up as Rocky Horror characters.
Curry withdrew from a British stage production in 2011 due to ill health.
In 2013, his agent said that he had suffered a stroke but was recovering "in great humour".
From then on, he used a wheelchair and reduced his workload.
In 2024, he did, however, return to the big screen, appearing in the horror film Stream.
Curry, who lived in Los Angeles, never married and had no children.
A composer and a singer, Curry also performed with his own rock band and released a handful of albums.
In October 2025, he published his memoir, Vagabond.
Source: Press Association, AFP, Reuters