Tim Curry, legendary star of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ and 'It', dies aged 80

Beloved British actor Tim Curry has died aged 80.

A cause of death was not immediately available, though Curry had suffered from several health issues since a severe stroke in 2012 left him unable to walk.

Best known for his role as Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania”, in the cult musical comedy The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Curry was considered one of the most charismatic performers of his generation.

Born in Cheshire, England, on 19 April 1946, Curry began his professional acting career in a 1968 West End production of the rock musical Hair shortly after graduating from the University of Birmingham.

He followed that up with roles in stage performances of Shakespeare, Brecht and Stoppard, before the subversive camp classic Rocky Horror launched him to worldwide stardom. It is still considered a classic of musical cinema and continues to run in limited release to this day, making it the longest-running film release of all time.

The prolific actor is also remembered for playing Bill Sikes in the 1982 TV movie of “Oliver Twist”, the terrifying villain Darkness in Ridley Scott’s fantasy Legend (1985), Wadsworth in the 1985 comedy Clue – the underseen but utterly brilliant adaptation of board game Cluedo - and Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island (1996).

Other memorable big screen roles include Rooster Hannigan in Annie, Dr. Yevgeniy Petrov in The Hunt for Red October, Hector in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers.

Beyond Rocky Horror, Curry also made quite the lasting impression in the 1990 miniseries It, based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. He played the main antagonist Pennywise the Clown, and scared an entire generation of children in the process.

Curry continued to act on stage throughout his career, with a Tony-nominated performance as Mozart in 1981’s Amadeus. Other memorable roles followed in The Pirates of Penzance, The Rivals, My Favourite Year (which earned him a second Tony nomination) and Spamalot, the stage adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which he played King Arthur. That role earned him his third Tony nomination.

Following his stroke in July 2012, Curry pivoted to voice acting. Among his voice acting projects were FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Peter Pan & the Pirates - with the latter winning him an Emmy Award.

Curry, who never married and had no children, was deeply private about his personal life. However, he wrote in his 2025 memoir, "Vagabond", that he was convinced to tell his story thanks to so many moving encounters with fans.

“The notion that my experiences might resonate helps me persevere - if they strike a chord with only one teenager, alone with a book in his room, as I so often was; or that young woman reading this on an interminably long bus ride; or that older queen, hopefully still in his fishnets, who saw ‘Rocky Horror’ upstairs at the Royal Court; or that middle-aged mother who organizes ‘Clue’ watching parties and refuses entry to anybody out of costume; or that buttoned-up bank clerk who relishes musicals; or that woman who kicked me out of the Waverly for being myself,” he wrote.

RIP Tim Curry 1946 - 2026