How a lucky lie & disapproving mum inspired Tim Curry to fame – but his biggest passion was away from the silver screen

Tim Curry shocked, beguiled, outraged and seduced the world as the fishnet-wearing transvestite Frank-N-Furter. It was a role in the Rocky Horror Show on both the stage and big screen which transformed the lives of the British actor and the camp musical’s thousands of devoted fans. Tim Curry’s iconic role as Frank-N-Furter in 1975’s Rocky Horror Picture Show Credit: Alamy Curry promoting The Wild Thornberrys in 2002 Credit: Picture Perfect Curry, who died late on Tuesday at the age of 80, went on to star in many movies, including Annie, Legend and Home Alone 2 — and as evil clown Pennywise in the TV version of It. His career was cruelly curtailed in 2012 when he suffered a stroke while having a massage. Sign up for the TV newsletter Thank you! But it was singing ‘I’m a sweet transvestite from Transylvania’ as mad scientist Frank that he will be most fondly remembered. Curry said: “He had a lot of power, Frank. “He gave a lot of teenagers permission to be different and I’m very happy that he did have that power.” Born on April 19, 1946, in Grappenhall, Cheshire, his father Jim was a Royal Navy Methodist chaplain and the family moved around the world from post to post. After his beloved father suffered a stroke, they moved back to Plymouth where he died when Curry was aged just 12. He said: “I no longer saw the world as a safe place. I was instantly, emotionally, much older.” Most read in TV The star set a high bar as Pennywise, the evil clown in the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s It Credit: Alamy In 2012, Curry suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed and using a wheelchair Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Curry was sent off to boarding school in Bath and acting there led to a degree in drama at the University of Birmingham. His mother Pat, who could often fly off the handle, disapproved of the move. Straight out of university, Curry lied about his acting experience to land a part in the original production of hippy musical, Hair, which scandalised the nation with its full-frontal nudity. Producers quickly saw through Curry’s lies but were so impressed with his work, they didn’t fire him. Curry said: “It was a very peculiar production. People just didn’t turn up if they were a bit stoned or they thought they’d stay home. “But I was a real trouper. I always showed up.” Hair brought Curry together with Richard O’Brien, who wrote The Rocky Horror Show. The camp tribute to old B-movies was an instant smash in 1973 and received rave reviews in the US. Playing the smarmy hotel concierge in Home Alone 2 Credit: Kobal The star seen in the Worst Witch Credit: ITV Curry said: “I went from a bedsit behind Baker Street to Jack Nicholson’s pool in the space of three or four weeks.” The 1975 film titled The Rocky Horror Picture Show played at late-night cinemas for decades, with the audience donning their favourite characters’ outfits. Curry was lured to America with the offer of a record deal that led to three albums. He admitted: “It wasn’t a very smart career decision, but it was what I wanted to do. “There’s a CD entitled The Best of Tim Curry. They couldn’t call it the Greatest Hits because there weren’t any.’” In New York, he partied with singer Carly Simon and pop artist Andy Warhol while taking copious amounts of drugs. At the legendary Studio 54 nightclub in the late 1970s, the actor enjoyed “bowls of coke” and “snorted most of Peru”. In 1980, he won significant acclaim and a Tony Award nomination for his Mozart in Amadeus on Broadway. As Rooster Hannigan in Annie Credit: Alamy Tim Curry passed away at the age of 80 He also starred as the Pirate King in the 1982 West End production of The Pirates of Penzance, for which he won the Royal Variety Club Award as Stage Actor of the Year. His performance as Frank saw him embraced by Hollywood especially as Rooster Hannigan in Annie, the smarmy hotel concierge in Home Alone 2, fantasy epic Legend with Tom Cruise and fast-talking butler Wadsworth in the 1985 mystery-comedy, Clue. But he set a high bar as Pennywise, the evil clown in the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s It. Curry said: “I like risky parts — abrasive characters the audience won’t necessarily like. I like dangerous directors who like dangerous actors and dangerous productions.” Even though he lived in the shadow of the Hollywood sign, Curry avoided showbiz parties and preferred to entertain at home. In 2012, he suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed and using a wheelchair. He said of the stroke: “It’s a curious experience. I didn’t know it was happening at the time. “They told me at the hospital and operated on my brain and removed, I think, two blood clots, which is a sort of grim picture. It felt like somebody had paddled around in my brain.” It was probably the quick-thinking massage therapist, who called for medical assistance after realising something was wrong, that saved Curry’s life. The stroke also affected the actors speech but he continued doing voice work and attending conventions from his Spanish colonial-style villa in the Hollywood Hills, where he lived alone with his carers. For many years, his garden was his pride and joy and he even designed the grounds of Queen singer and friend Freddie Mercury’s home in England. When he published his autobiography, Vagabond last year, Curry refused to wallow in any self-pity. In one of his final interviews, he concluded: “I don’t fear death. I try to avoid it, but I suspect that in the end, I will welcome it. “I think it may be very comforting to go ‘bye-bye’, and I want to earn it.” Comment now