It’s funny that, when it comes to movies, we tend to rate the hero on a much higher scale than any other character. They also seem to be the ones we remember most. After all, they’re the ones who save the day, defeat the villain and usually get the dramatic music playing behind them as the credits begin to roll. But every now and then an actor comes along who completely ruins that arrangement. Tim Curry was one of them.
The legendary British actor died on Tuesday at his Los Angeles home at the age of 80. His longtime manager Marcia Hurwitz confirmed his death, although no cause has been announced. Curry had experienced significant health problems since suffering a major stroke in 2012. And while his death marks the loss of another extraordinary performer, looking back at Curry’s career made me realise something. The man hardly ever needed to be the hero.
Tim Curry was as versatile as they come. He embodied every role so brilliantly that he grabbed your attention without you even realising it. Take The Rocky Horror Picture Show for example. Curry originated Dr. Frank-N-Furter on stage before taking the character to the big screen in 1975. The film initially struggled at the box office. But the emergence of midnight screenings transformed it into one of cinema’s greatest cult phenomena. And more than 50 years later, people still dress as the characters, shout at the screen and do the Time Warp.
That is so much more than simply playing a character. It is something that has embedded itself in popular culture. Annie followed, with Curry playing Rooster Hannigan alongside Carol Burnett. Legend gave us Darkness, buried beneath an extraordinary amount of prosthetics. Clue gave us Wadsworth, the increasingly frantic butler trying to survive one of cinema’s most chaotic murder mysteries. Which brings me to Pennywise. Before Bill Skarsgård terrified another generation in It, Tim Curry had already ensured that thousands of children would look at storm drains with considerable suspicion. His performance as Pennywise in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King’s novel became one of his most recognisable roles despite Curry himself admitting that he didn’t particularly like clowns.
The strange thing about Curry’s villains was that we often enjoyed watching them far more than we should have. Carol Burnett summed it up beautifully after news of his death, remembering her Annie co-star as someone who could play a lovable villain better than anyone. Susan Sarandon remembered his originality and kindness, while Clue co-star Michael McKean wrote about their final conversation being about life, love and laughter. Luke Evans, currently playing Frank-N-Furter on Broadway, described Curry as an inspiration whose performance continues to influence every actor who steps into those fishnets.
The real measure of an actor’s legacy isn’t always about how many times their name appears above the movie title. It’s about whether people remember them when they think about the movie. Curry had that strange ability to walk into somebody else’s story and make it feel temporarily like his own. Even Home Alone 2 proves the point. Curry wasn’t the villain. He wasn’t even remotely the main character. He played Mr. Hector, the suspicious Plaza Hotel concierge determined to figure out what Kevin McCallister was doing wandering around New York without his parents. Yet he is the one who is remembered the most.
The facial expressions, the raised eyebrow and that wonderfully exaggerated suspicion every time Kevin walked past him. You could probably remove half the characters from that movie and people wouldn’t notice. Remove Tim Curry and something immediately feels missing. And that is presence at its best.
Curry’s talents earned him three Tony nominations. He also performed extensively on stage, released three albums and became a prolific voice actor. His performance as Captain Hook in Peter Pan and the Pirates earned him a Daytime Emmy, while younger audiences heard that unmistakable voice across animation, video games and children’s entertainment.
In 2012 Curry suffered a severe stroke that left him using a wheelchair and dramatically changed what he could physically do. But despite this, he trudged on in the entertainment world. He continued voice work and public appearances and even returned to Rocky Horror in 2016, this time playing the narrator in the television remake. That is exactly what makes the tributes we’re seeing now particularly meaningful. Because people aren’t simply remembering the famous roles. They’re remembering the person who created them.
Former colleagues have repeatedly described Curry as kind, generous, funny and extraordinarily talented. Rob Schneider recalled watching him perform the same scene in several completely different ways simply so the director would have options. Jillian Bell said Curry was the person who made her want to become an actor. There are actors who spend their entire careers chasing the leading role. But Tim Curry proved that you don’t necessarily need one.
Sometimes the most memorable person in the movie isn’t the character saving the world. Sometimes it’s the suspicious butler. The terrifying clown. The hotel concierge. Or the man standing in fishnets who walked onto a screen more than fifty years ago and somehow never really left.
Tim Curry didn’t need to play the hero to steal the movie. He just needed to walk into the scene.
