Iconic actor Tim Curry passed away on Tuesday night at his home in Toluca Lake at 80 years of age. According to Curry’s longtime manager, Marcia Hurwitz, no details regarding the cause of death have been released, though Curry had faced ongoing mobility and health challenges following a major stroke in 2012.
Curry’s legendary career spanned decades and genres, giving rise to the popular internet adage: you can tell a lot about a person by what they know Tim Curry for.
He first skyrocketed to stardom with his magnetic, genre-defining turn as the eccentric Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show—first on stage at London’s Royal Court Theatre and later in the beloved cult classic film. For kids of the ’80s, he was the delightfully sleazy Rooster Hannigan in the movie adaptation of Annie, and he commanded the screen as the terrifying, devilish embodiment of Darkness in Ridley Scott’s dark fantasy Legend. Comedy fans know that the film adaptation of the board game Clue simply wouldn’t work without his fast-talking, frantic butler, Wadsworth.
Into the 1990s, Curry continued to traumatize and thrill audiences as the definitive Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the 1990 TV miniseries event Stephen King’s IT. His voicework was equally unforgettable, lending seductive villainy to Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest and capturing the iconic presence of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine / Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Disney fans will forever treasure his scheming Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers—as well as his turn as pirate captain Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island, a role Curry fondly noted as his absolute favorite of his career.
Rest in peace, Tim Curry. Your theatrical brilliance, villainous charm, and unmatched talent are already deeply missed.
