From THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW To LEGEND: Fango Remembers The Iconic Tim Curry

The first time I was ever truly horrified in my life was courtesy of Tim Curry. As a budding young horror fan forbidden from watching rated-R movies, my parents figured a TV broadcast of Stephen King’s IT would be safe enough. They vastly underestimated Curry’s masterful ability to become Pennywise, fully scarring a generation. I was too young to clock that Pennywise was played by a guy in one of my favorite movies, Clue.

Another classic in constant rotation in my home was The Worst Witch, where Curry plays a wizard with phenomenal style and performs an incredibly catchy musical number set against hallucinogenic green-screen animation.

And when I found The Rocky Horror Picture Show in high school, it felt like coming home. It was one of my first signs of life from another planet inhabiting Earth. My people existed, and I would find them. In many ways, I suppose I have Tim Curry to thank for where I ended up. His range is incredible; the same man who terrified me beyond belief was also so funny, and lord, could he rock a pair of fishnets. Thanks for introducing a fantastic life philosophy — don’t dream it, be it. Rest easy.

-Angel Melanson

It’s tempting when someone passes to recommend a cozy favorite; that impulse is probably extra hard to resist when the dearly departed is best remembered for a movie whose audience infamously knows every word. But Tim Curry’s filmography has so many lesser-explored corners, and to me it’s maybe a more fitting tribute to shine a light on some of the new-to-you work.

To that end, find yourself a copy of 1978’s The Shout; Curry’s not the lead or even got that large a role in this oddball horror flick, but his presence contributes nicely to the weirdness happening within the film. Outside of horror, try to track down the “Dead Dog Records” arc of the 1980s TV crime drama Wiseguy, in which Curry memorably portrays a slimy record executive up to no good. In both these works, Curry does what he did best; made something good into something great. Rest well, sir.  

-Phil Nobile Jr.

Tim Curry’s culture-shifting role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show went beyond a singular portrayal to which every subsequent performer is forever indebted, but provided a blueprint for countless people across the spectrums of gender, sexuality, and geography that they too did not have to just dream it; they could be it.

He brought the underground to the mainstream and forced normies to reckon with a changing world, and I refuse to argue whether or not he’s cinema’s most magnetic villain, because the truth is that there’s no competition. Dr. Frank-N-Furter embodies the four major classes of cinematic queer villains (Dandy Baddies, Predatory Hags, Disaster Bisexuals, Killer Crossdressers) rolled into one sensational, sequined character, and without Tim Curry giving every last cell in his body over to the role, there’s no way the show or the film would have the continued legacy that it has had for over 50 years, and will continue to have long after everyone reading this joins him home.

A lesser-known work in Tim Curry’s filmography is Allan Moyle’s Times Square, a punk rock coming-of-age film about two teenage girls rebelling against the system in New York City and sending messages to the government through the radio. While not a genre film, Tim Curry plays Johnny LaGuardia, the smooth-talking radio DJ disillusioned by the regressive changes being made to the station and the push for gentrification by the current wave of politicians, who becomes fascinated by these runaway teen girls and offers them the opportunity to get their message — a message he too shares but doesn’t have the rebellious spirit found in teenagers anymore — onto the airwaves.

Trending

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Rocks Out For One Night Only With New Special

In the way that Dr. Frank-N-Furter became a sanctuary for freaks and outsiders, Johnny LaGuardia became the manifestation of the older generation looking to provide guidance and protection for those now on the trail he helped pave. 

-BJ Colangelo

Every time I saw a Tim Curry role as a child, it taught me something new about performance or art or human nature. The Worst Witch: a witch can sing like that? Clue: a movie can end like that? The Rocky Horror Picture Show: a doctor can dress like that? Legend: Darkness can make me feel like that? IT: anything on earth, anything I’ve ever seen or read or dreamt of before, can scare me like that?

He was a dapper, dancing, singing, mercurial lesson in possibility, an introduction to the very concepts of weird and dark, how great those things can be if you give yourself over to them. Tim Curry never did anything twice; he didn’t have to. He perfected it the first time.

“But here’s what really happened.”

Let’s skip ahead to the other ending, because this one sucks.

-Meredith Borders

Once in a purple moon the world gets an actor like Tim Curry. He was the genre entertainment throughline of childhoods between the ’80s and ’90s.  I remember pressing rewind on the VCR to watch his alternate ending scenes in Clue fifty times, wearing my mom’s silk robe as a cape and singing along to “Anything Can Happen on Halloween” on the tape deck, and putting on a full “beat” of my aunt’s Avon makeup samples to practice my Dr. Frank-N-Furter snarls in the mirror. 

As a human chameleon, it took me years to recognize The Grand Wizard of The Worst Witch was also the dancing clown that traumatized me from showering alone after watching the IT miniseries. I vividly remember my entire extended family cramming into a single room for movie night at The Lollipop Motel during a thunderstorm in Wildwood, NJ. Seeing Curry as Pennywise left me terrified and deeply enamored with that feeling. I also learned kids weren’t the only ones scared by horror movies when some of my aunts and cousins couldn’t sleep that night.

His presence was ubiquitous across pop culture, starring in my personal favorite episode of Tales from the Crypt, “Death of Some Salesman,” in three separate roles, all opposite Ed Begley Jr., and voicing many beloved cartoons, particularly Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest. When I want to define acting, it seems I always think of Tim Curry.

Trending

Clive Barker Is Writing A New Horror Anthology Series

Until we do the Time Warp again.

-Kimberly Leszak

While he may have heavily influenced my tastes in horror as an adult, I remember Tim Curry much more fondly as the voice of my childhood. I watched Annie more times than was probably healthy for a ten-year-old, and The Wild Thornberrys was a staple in my animal-loving, Steve Irwin-obsessed house.

Whatever I watched, it seems like he was always there, years before I ever heard the Time Warp or saw him cart around a house full of colorful guests in Clue. From his goofy antics in Muppet Treasure Island to terrifying me with only his voice in Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost, he’s always been a part of my cultural consciousness, shaping the stories I love and giving me a laugh when I most desperately need it.

He feels like such a part of the fabric of the universe that it’s hard to believe he’s not immortal. Wherever you are, rest well Mr. Curry — and thanks for teaching me how to be a professional pirate.

-Maggie Boccella

Tim Curry was singular. He was, excuse the pun, quite literally a legend. It’s hard to choose a favorite from his many, many incredible roles on screen and stage, but I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Sir Nigel Archibald Thornberry KBE, the well-meaning posho patriarch of The Wild Thornberrys. Curry’s natural eccentricity shone through as Nige, making him easily the best and funniest dad in the whole Nickelodeon canon.

Also incredible – his audio narration of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events books. A voice like velvet that will be all too missed.

-Amber T

Tim Curry’s groundbreaking role as Frank-N-Furter is probably what most film fans think of when they think of the legendary actor (or his turn as Pennywise the Clown, which sparked a phobia in an entire generation). His performance as the sweet transvestite from Transylvania has a place in my heart for a reason that may seem strange – it reminds me of family.

Whenever I think of Rocky Horror, I think of my parents and grandparents, who introduced me to the film and encouraged the weird little kid I was to flourish and embrace the world of horror. Now a parent myself, I showed my own daughters the first Tim Curry film I ever saw, dancing around the living room to “The Time Warp” while trying to rock a toddler to sleep, as her older sister probably wondered why we were having a 10 pm dance party.

I hope one day to pass the musical on to my own grandkids and great-grandkids, sharing the love for Curry through the generations. I am waiting with antici-

-Becci Sayce

From live-action movies to countless voice-over roles, after looking at his IMDb, I'm now realizing Tim Curry was a huge part of my childhood. Curry has voiced characters in everything from Gargoyles to Freakazoid!, The Mask, Aaaahh!! Real Monsters, Darkwing Duck, Mighty Max, and Sonic the Hedgehog, to name just a few. Eventually, I got acquainted with his iconic roles in Clue, Rocky Horror, and even Congo (where he is probably the best part of that movie).

But outside movies and television, he also worked in video games. One of his more iconic video game roles was Premier Anatoly Cherdenko in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 . He didn't just phone in his role as a Soviet leader; he went all in, and his character has maybe lasted longer in people's memory than the game itself. You can check out all of his scenes here.

Outside of his acting roles, he also frequented fan conventions, with lines of people waiting hours just to meet him and maybe get his autograph. From what I have been told by people who did meet him, he was very nice and a delight.

– Jason Kauzlarich