Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He is famous for playing many villainous roles and rose to prominence as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in themusical filmThe Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973London, 1974Los Angeles, and 1975Broadway musical stage productions ofThe Rocky Horror Show.
Timothy James Curry was born on 19 April 1946 inGrappenhall, Cheshire,[a][1][2] the son of school secretary Patricia andRoyal Navy chaplain James Curry. The Currys had met inMalta and married in Egypt.[3] He had an elder sister, Judith.[3][4] Within a year of Curry's birth, the family moved toHong Kong.[5] During Curry's early childhood, the family moved to a different British seaside town every 18 months or so, eventually settling inPlymouth when Curry was 11.[6]
Curry's first full-time role was as part of the original London cast of the musicalHair in 1968, where he metRichard O'Brien,[10] who went on to write Curry's role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter inThe Rocky Horror Show (1973).[11] Curry recalled his first encounter with the project:
I'd heard about the play because I lived onPaddington Street, offBaker 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 toJim Sharman. He gave me the script, and I thought, "Boy, if this works, it's going to be a smash."[12]
Originally, Curry rehearsed the character with a Germanaccent andperoxide blond hair, and later, with an American accent. In March 2005, in an interview withTerry Gross ofNPR'sFresh Air, he explained that he decided to play Dr. Frank-N-Furter with an English accent after listening to an English woman say, "Do you have a house in town or a house in the country?," and decided, "Yes, [Dr. Frank-N-Furter] should sound likethe Queen."[13]
Curry originally thought the character was merely a laboratory doctor dressed in a white lab coat. However, at the suggestion of director Sharman, the character evolved into the diabolicalmad scientist andtransvestite with an upper-classBelgravia accent. An immediate hit, a reviewer at the premiere in London in June 1973 wrote that Curry gives a "garishlyBowiesque performance as the ambisextrous doctor."[14] This change carried over to the 1975 film adaptation,The Rocky Horror Picture Show,[15] which made Curry a household name and gave him acult following. Curry continued to play the character in London, Los Angeles, and New York City until 1975.
In an interview with NPR, Curry calledRocky Horror a "rite of passage", and added that the film is "a guaranteed weekend party to which you can go with or without a date and probably find one if you don't have one, and it's also a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, you know? Figure out, help them maybe figure out their own sexuality".[13]
In 2016, Curry played the Criminologist in thetelevision film remake ofThe Rocky Horror Picture Show.[16] In 2025, Curry was an invited guest speaker at the Academy Museum to celebrate the film's 50th anniversary.[17]
Shortly after the end ofRocky Horror's run on Broadway, Curry returned to the stage withTom Stoppard'sTravesties, which ran in London and New York from 1975 to 1976.Travesties was a Broadway hit. It won twoTony Awards (Best Performance by an Actor forJohn Wood and Best Comedy), as well as theNew York Drama Critics Circle Award (Best Play), and Curry's performance as the famousdadaistTristan Tzara received good reviews.[18]
In 2004, Curry began his role ofKing Arthur inSpamalot in Chicago. Directed byMike Nichols, written byMonty Python memberEric Idle and based onMonty Python and the Holy Grail, the show successfully moved to Broadway in February 2005. It sold more than $1 million worth of tickets in its first 24 hours.[25] His performance brought him a third Tony nomination, again for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.[26] Curry reprised this role at thePalace Theatre in the West End, whereSpamalot opened on 16 October 2006. His final performance came on 6 January 2007.[citation needed] Curry was nominated for aLaurence Olivier Award for his work inSpamalot,[27] and he also won theTheatregoers' Choice Award (receiving 39% of the votes cast by over 12,000 theatregoers) as Best Actor in a Musical.[28]
From May to August 2011, Curry was scheduled to portray the Player in aTrevor Nunn stage production of Tom Stoppard'sRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at theChichester Festival Theatre and then inLondon. Curry withdrew from the production on 27 May, citing ill health but later admitting that he was fired for being unable to memorize his lines.[29][30] From 26 to 29 April 2012, he appeared inEric Idle's playWhat About Dick? at theOrpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.[31] Curry had originally appeared at a script reading for the play back in 2007 when it was still a work in progress.[32]
Curry's career in theatre was honoured on 7 June 2015 at theActors Fund's 19th annual Tony Awards Viewing Party, where he was awarded an Artistic Achievement Award.[33]
AfterThe Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Curry began to appear in many films, acting in supporting roles, such as Robert Graves in thehorror filmThe Shout (1978), as Johnny LaGuardia inTimes Square (1980), as Daniel Francis "Rooster" Hannigan inJohn Huston's 1982 film version ofAnnie, and as Jeremy Hancock in the political filmThe Ploughman's Lunch (1983). In 1985, Curry starred in thefantasy filmLegend as The Lord of Darkness. DirectorRidley Scott cast Curry in the film after watching him inRocky Horror, thinking he was ideal to play the role of Darkness. It took five and a half hours to apply the makeup 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. The same year, Curry appeared in thecomedymystery filmClue as Wadsworth the butler.
Curry then moved to the United States, and appeared in American television production: he appeared in the "Dead Dog Records" storyline of the television seriescrime dramaWiseguy (1989) as Winston Newquay, and was nominated for aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for portraying all three members of a deranged family inTales from the Crypt (1993). He also had recurring roles on the short-livedscience fiction television seriesEarth 2 (1994) and the sitcomRude Awakening (1999–2000). Although Curry has appeared in numerous television series throughout his career, he has only had lead roles in two live-action series:Over the Top (1997), asitcom that he also produced, and the revival series ofFamily Affair (2002–2003). Both were cancelled after one season. Around this time, Curry also made a single episode appearance on the live-action comedy-detective seriesPsych (2007) as Nigel St. Nigel, a Simon Cowell esque judge on a singing competition show being targeted. He returned to working on British television in the late 2000s, with the miniseries adaptation ofTerry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic (2008), a guest appearance on the long-runningAgatha Christie's Poirot (2008) and the miniseriesReturn to Cranford (2009). His final episodic television role was in 2010 onCriminal Minds, portraying unsub Billy Flynn in two episodes.
One of Curry's best-known television roles is asPennywise the Clown in thehorror miniseriesStephen King's It (1990). Aside from oneFangoria interview in 1990, Curry never publicly acknowledged his involvement inIt until an interview withMoviefone in 2015, where he called the role of Pennywise "a wonderful part".
Aside from his performances on various soundtrack records, Curry has had some success as a solo musical artist. Curry received classical vocal training as a boy. He has mentioned that his musical influences included jazz vocalists such asBillie Holiday andLouis Armstrong, and he idolisedThe Beatles andThe Rolling Stones as a teenager. In 1978,A&M Records released Curry's debut solo albumRead My Lips.[41] The album featured an eclectic range of songs (mostlycovers) performed in diverse genres. Highlights of the album are areggae version of the Beatles' song "I Will", a rendition of "Wake Nicodemus" featuring the Pipes and Drums of the48th Highlanders of Canada, and a bar-room ballad, "Alan", composed byCanadian singer-songwriter Tony Kosinec. In 1979, he scored a minor hit single with "I Do the Rock". The following year, Curry released his second and most successful albumFearless.[41] TheLP was more rock-oriented thanRead My Lips and mostly featured original songs rather than cover versions. The album included Curry's only USBillboard Hot 100 charting song: "I Do the Rock".
Curry's third album,Simplicity, was released in 1981, again by A&M Records.[41] This record, which did not sell as well as the previous offerings, combined both original songs and cover versions. Still, it was the only Curry recording to hit the charts in Canada, reaching No. 45 on the album chart.[42] The writing, production, and musician roster for Curry's solo albums included an impressive list of collaborators, includingBob Ezrin,Dick Wagner, andDavid Sanborn.
In 1989, A&M releasedThe Best of Tim Curry on CD and cassette, featuring songs from his albums (including a live version of "Alan") and a previously unreleased song, a live cover version ofBob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate". Curry touredNorth America and some European countries with his band between 1978 and 1980. In 1990, Curry performed as the Prosecutor inRoger Waters' production ofThe Wall – Live in Berlin.[43] Although Curry's first album was released in 1978, he had previously recorded a nine-track album forLou Adler'sOde Records in 1976. However, the album remained unreleased in its entirety until February 2010, when it was made available as a legal download entitled...From the Vaults (though four tracks from these sessions had been released on a 1990Rocky Horror box set). The album, produced by Lou Adler, included Curry's rendition ofthe Supremes' hit "Baby Love".
Curry has never married and does not have children.[44] He does not consider his relationship history to be a public matter.[6]
A keenhorticulturalist, Curry has developed and restored gardens across many of his past residences and some other residences inLos Angeles. On where his interest in gardening came from, he commented: "I think if you're English, atrowel appears in your hand when you're 30 like a prosthetic device".[45] He told the UK edition ofHouse & Garden magazine about designingFreddie 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?'"[11]
Curry's mother, Patricia Curry, died in 1999 at age 80.[6] Curry's sister, Judith, was a concert pianist; she died of abrain tumour in 2001.[3][4][6]
A former smoker, Curry has stated that he has used hashish and cocaine. He has also spent time in alcohol rehabilitation, but does not consider himself an alcoholic.[6]
In 2012, Curry had a major stroke in the midst of receiving a massage.[17] The stroke required brain surgery.[6] Curry has used a wheelchair since thestroke.[46] He continues to experience mobility issues, particularly in his left arm and leg. The stroke has also affected his short-term memory.[17][6] In September 2025, Curry stated that he is still unable to walk.[47]
Curry's memoir,Vagabond, was released on 14 October 2025 byGrand Central Publishing.[49] When asked by a fan about the origin of the title, Curry responded, "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."[50]
Regarding his religious beliefs, Curry was strongly influenced byMethodism and his father's faith. He wrote inVagabond that he did not anticipate an afterlife but was "curious" to see if one existed.[6]
^Whittaker, Jim (1998).Cosmic Light: The Birth of a Cult Classic. Acme Books. p. 31.LCCN98232656.Timothy James Curry was born in Cheshire, England, on April 19, 1946, the son of a Methodist Navy chaplain who died when Curry was twelve.
