Tim Curry

Timothy James "Tim" Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions, often portraying villainous roles or character parts. Curry first rose to prominence with his breakthrough portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London and 1974 Los Angeles stage productions of The Rocky Horror Show. After Rocky Horror, Curry garnered acclaim for his supporting roles; as Rooster in the 1982 film adaptation of Annie, as the Lord of Darkness in the 1985 film Legend, and as Wadsworth in the film of the same year Clue; as well as for his starring roles, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the 1980 Broadway production of Amadeus, as Pennywise the Clown in the 1990 horror miniseries It and as King Arthur in the 2005 Broadway production of Spamalot. --- Curry's father, James, was a Methodist chaplain in the Royal Navy, and his mother, Patricia, was a school secretary. His older sister, Judy, was a concert pianist. Curry was born and brought up in Grappenhall, Warrington, and attended Lymm High School, until his father's death in 1958. Curry's family then moved to South London, but Curry himself went to boarding school and attended Kingswood School in Bath, Somerset. As a child, he developed into a talented boy soprano (treble). Deciding to concentrate on acting, Curry graduated from University of Birmingham with a combined degree in English and drama. Curry's first full-time role was as part of the original London cast of the musical Hair in 1968, where he first met Richard O'Brien who went on to write Curry's next full-time role, that of Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. Curry recalled his first encounter with the project: "I'd heard about the play because I lived on Paddington Street, off Baker Street, and there was an old gym a few doors away. I saw Richard O'Brien in the street, and he said he'd just been to the gym to see if he could find a muscleman who could sing. I said, 'Why do you need him to sing?' [laughs] And he told me that his musical was going to be done, and I should talk to Jim Sharman. He gave me the script, and I thought, 'Boy, if this works, it's going to be a smash.'" Originally, Curry rehearsed the character with a German accent and peroxide blond hair, and later, with an American accent. Curry originally thought the character was merely a laboratory doctor dressed in a white lab coat. However, at the suggestion of director Jim Sharman, the character evolved into the diabolical mad scientist and transvestite with an upper-class Belgravia accent that carried over to the film version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and made Curry both a star and acult figure. He continued to play the character in London, Los Angeles and New York City until 1975. --- After The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Curry began to star in many films, acting in supporting roles, such as Robert Graves in the British horror film The Shout, as Johnny LaGuardia in the cult classic,Times Square, as Daniel "Rooster" Hannigan in Annie, a film based off the broadway musical of the same name and as Jeremy Hancock in the political film The Ploughman's Lunch. In 1985, Curry starred in the fantasy film, Legend as The Lord Darkness, which became one of his best known roles. Director Ridley Scott cast Curry in the film after watching him in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, thinking he was ideal to play the role of Darkness. It took five and a half hours to apply the make up needed for Darkness onto Curry and at the end of the day he would spend an hour in a bath in order to liquefy the soluble spirit gum. At one point, Curry got too impatient and claustrophobic and pulled the makeup off too quickly, tearing off his own skin in the process. Scott had to shoot around the actor for a week as a result. --- Curry has never been married and has no children. He had one sibling, a sister named Judy Curry, who died of a brain tumor in the early 2000s.