An actor with one of the most unique and diverse filmographies possible, Tim Curry has made us hysterical with laughter, hysterical with fear, and gave us a lot to sing about in his 55+ year career. Unfortunely, the laughter, fear and melodies are going silent today, as Curry has passed away at the age of 80.
Arguably most celebrated for his dazzling performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the singalong midnight-movie classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Curry reportedly died late Tuesday night within his Los Angeles home. According to TMZ, police arrived at the home around 11:23 p.m., and reported him as dead. No foul play is suspected in regards to his death.
Curry has suffered a variety of medical issues for more than a decade, and has been largely out of the spotlight during that stretch. He suffered a major stroke back in July 2012, which required him to undergo brain surgery. Since that time, he required a wheelchair to move around, without full usage of his left leg, and with some memory issues.
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Despite any and all ailments, Curry returned to the spotlight in recent years, briefly appearing as a killer in the 2024 horror movie Stream and sharing the stage with Rocky Horror co-stars for the film’s 50th anniversary celebrations, even if he couldn’t do all the singing and dancing. Curry also released his career-spanning memoir Vagabond in October 2025.
Curry is quite beloved amongst horror fans for being the first to bring Stephen King‘s otherworldly monster to life in IT, mainly as the dancing clown Pennywise. Curry’s performance remains one of the most unsettling of any horror villain, and is regarded as the best thing about the 1990 miniseries adaptation. (He was even a fright to those on the set.)
Beyond those roles mentioned above, Tim Curry also helped attain his icon status with memorable roles in Muppet Treasure Island as Long John Silver, as Annie‘s Rooster Hannigan, as Clue‘s Wadsworth, as Home Alone 2: Lost in New York‘s put-upon hotel concierge Mr. Hector, as Scary Movie 2‘s Professor Oldman, and many others.
On the TV side, the English actor hosted Saturday Night Live a single time in 1981 (with fellow Rocky Horror actor Meat Loaf as the musical guest), and he’s in one of the most memorable episodes of HBO’s Tales from the Crypt. He also made appearances in Roseanne, Monk, Will and Grace, Psych, Criminal Minds and more.
That’s only talking about live-action roles, also. The actor also worked on a ton of projects in a voiceover capacity, perhaps most memorably as Nigel Thornberry in Nickelodeon’s The Wild Thornberrys. He also voiced Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and appeared in fan-fave shows like Young Justice, Phineas and Ferb, Voltron: The Third Dimension, Gargoyles and Duckman, to name but a few.
In his lengthy career, Curry earned a Daytime Emmy Award for his work in the children’s series Peter Pan and the Pirates, as well as a variety of nominations for Grammys, Emmys, Tonys and more. (Even a Razzie nomination for his performance in Congo.)
We at CinemaBlend send our thoughts and condolences to the family and friends of Tim Curry in their time of mourning.