In honour of his 79th birthday today (April 19), we’re taking a brief look back over Tim Curry’s incomparable career as an entertainer.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show star has enjoyed a career spanning seven phenomenal decades.
From landing his first full-time acting role in Hair in 1968 all the way through to 2024’s Stream, he has played every role under the sun.
But it hasn’t all been easy. In 2012, he suffered a major stroke. He transitioned to mostly voice acting work as a result. But where is he now?
50 years since The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Tim Curry’s career in brief
Tim Curry landed his first full-time acting role as part of the original cast of the London musical Hair, in 1968.
He performed alongside Richard O’Brien, who went on to write The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Despite earning a cult following for his iconic portrayal of Dr Frank-N-Furter in the musical’s 1975 film adaptation, Curry didn’t win any major awards for it. It nevertheless made him a household name, and an earned him a place in this writer’s heart.
He later told NPR the show was a “rite of passage”, and described the film as “a guaranteed weekend party to which you can go with or without a date and probably find one if you don’t have one”.
In its wake, Curry had numerous successes on Broadway and in the West End. In 2015, the Actors Fund awarded him an Artistic Achievement Award for his theatre career.
In 1982, he played Daniel Francis “Rooster” Hannigan in John Huston’s version of Annie. He starred in Clue (as Wadsworth) and It (as Pennywise), and played the suspicious Plaza Hotel concierge in Home Alone 2.
In 2016, he played the criminologist in Rocky Horror’s TV film remake. And most recently, in 2024, he made a cameo appearance in the horror film Stream.
Later this year, his memoir is due for release. Title: Vagabond. Look out for it on bookshop shelves from October 7.
When a fan at GalaxyCon asked him about the title of the book, he told them: “It comes from in the 17th and 18th centuries actors were regarded as vagabonds, and sort of criminals – and because I’ve always moved around so much.”
He suffered from a stroke in 2012
It took the news some time to emerge, but Tim Curry suffered a stroke in July 2012.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote the following spring that his agent, Marcia Hurwitz, had confirmed as much.
“Tim had a stroke last July,” she told the outlet. “He has been going to physical therapy. He’s doing very well and still has his great sense of humour. He thanks everyone for sending good wishes.”
The stroke left him partially paralysed, and he has required the use of a wheelchair ever since. He reportedly went through rounds of speech and physical therapy in the months following it.
Where is Tim Curry now?
As a result of the stroke, Curry segued into mostly voice acting roles. However, he continued to perform as a singer, and has made several appearances at fan conventions for Q&A sessions.
After receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Actors Fund Tony Awards Viewing Party in 2015, Curry said his sense of humour was “absolutely vital” in staying afloat following his stroke.
“It’s not tough to maintain,” he said. “It is just part of my DNA.”
Soon enough, he was back entertaining. In October 2020, he reprised his role as Dr Frank-N-Furter in a live table reading of Rocky Horror in support of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party, to help raise funds for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
However, the last time he played a character on stage was in the Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles in 2012. His most recent live action film role was in Burke & Hare, as professor Alexander Monro.
And his last TV role was the aforementioned remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Finally, gamers may be interested to know he voiced Premier Anatoly Cherdenko in the PC game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, which came out in 2008.
‘If you’re English, a trowel appears in your hand when you’re 30’
To end on a slightly different note, Tim Curry is a keen horticulturist. He has restored and developed numerous gardens, belonging to himself and others.
In 1997, he told a New York newspaper that, in his opinion, “if you’re English, a trowel appears in your hand when you’re 30”.
Hear, hear!
Two years later, per The Guardian, he told the UK edition of House & Garden magazine about designing Freddie Mercury’s garden.
“Freddie came back from a tour and said: ‘The garden, dear, it’s dead.’ I said: ‘What? Did you water it?’ And Freddie said: ‘Water it, dear?'”
Happy birthday, Tim!
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