Tim Curry

Timothy James Curry (born April 19, 1946 in Grappenhall, a district of Warrington, England) is a British actor, vocalist and composer perhaps best known for his role as mad scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). He also had an earlier career as a rock musician. He studied Drama and English at Birmingham and then at Cambridge. His list of roles is extremely extensive, in both TV and movies, live-action and voice-acting for animated features, and it is notable that he almost always plays a villain of one kind or another. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Acting Career

Rocky Horror

Curry's first full-time role was as part of the original London cast of the musical Hair in 1968. Here he first met Richard O'Brien, who went on to create his next full-time and perhaps still most famous role, that of Frank N. Furter in the Rocky Horror Show.

Related Topics:
Hair - Richard O'Brien - Rocky Horror Show

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Originally Curry played the character with a German accent and envisioned him simply in a white labcoat with peroxide blonde hair, but the character evolved (mainly for comedy reasons) into the Queen's English-speaking, sly, drag-wearing mad scientist incarnation that carried over to the movie version and made Curry both a star and a cult figure. He continued to play the character in London and New York until 1978.

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For many years, Curry was reluctant to talk about Rocky Horror, feeling that it was a trend that had gone too far and had detracted attention away from his later roles. However, in recent years he has been much more open about discussing the show and now recognises it as a "rite of passage" for many young people.

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Theatre

In 1979, Curry took the part of the Pirate King in a London stage version of The Pirates of Penzance opposite George Cole. The role is one of his favourites even now.

Related Topics:
1979 - The Pirates of Penzance - George Cole

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In 1981, he formed part of the original cast in the Broadway show Amadeus, playing the title character, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was nominated for his first Tony Award (Best Supporting Actor in a Play) for this role, but lost out to his co-star Sir Ian McKellen.

Related Topics:
1981 - Amadeus - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Tony Award - Sir Ian McKellen

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1993 saw him play Alan Swann in the Broadway musical My Favourite Year, earning him his second Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.

Related Topics:
1993 - My Favourite Year

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In late 2004, he began to play King Arthur in Monty Python's Spamalot in Chicago, Illinois. The show transferred successfully to Broadway in February 2005. His part in the show got him his third and most recent Tony Award nomination, again for Best Actor in a Musical.

Related Topics:
2004 - King Arthur - Monty Python's Spamalot - Chicago, Illinois - Broadway - 2005

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Movies and television

Curry's television movie credits are long and varied. Amongst his most notable roles are:

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• Dr Frank N. Furter The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
• Jerome K. Jerome in the BBC's TV movie "Three Men in a Boat"(1975)
• Has-been rock star Stevie Streeter in Rock Follies of '77 (1977)
• The disc jockey Johnny LaGuardia in Times Square (1980)
• One-time guest host on Saturday Night Live (1981)
• Larry Gormley in BBC's TV comedy Blue Money (1982)
• Rooster in the musical Annie (1982)
• Darkness in the film Legend (1985)
• Wadsworth the Butler in the film Clue (1985)
• The Grand Wizard in "The Worst Witch" (1986)
• Dr Thornton Poole the elocutionist in the film Oscar (1991)
• Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the miniseries It (based on the Stephen King novel) (1991)
• The arch hotel concierge Mr Hector in the film ' (1992)
• Dr. Petrov in The Hunt for Red October (based on the Tom Clancy novel) (1992)
• Cardinal Richelieu in Disney's "The Three Musketeers" (1993)
• Gaal in Earth 2 (1994))
• Herkermer Homolka in Congo (1995), a role he would probably rather forget due to a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor.
• "Poet Man" in Lexx (1997) in the episode "Supernova"
• Roger Corwin in Charlie's Angels (2000)
• Thurman Rice in Kinsey (2004)
• Dale "The Whale" Biterbeck in Monk, the second person to take the role, after Adam Arkin. (2004)

Voice acting

From the early 1990s onwards, Curry has been known not just as an accomplished actor of stage and screen but also as a highly-acclaimed voice artist. Notable roles include:

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• Captain James T. Hook in Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates TV series (1990)
• Hexxus in ' (1992)
• Gabriel_Knight in the computer games Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993) and Gabriel Knight III: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999)
• Maelstrom in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (1994)
• George Herbert Walker "King" Chicken on Duckman (1994-1997)
• Dr Sevarius in "Gargoyles" (1994)
• Pretorius in the cartoon series The Mask (1995)
• Count Nefarious in 1995 video game "Toonstruck" (1995)
• Trader Slick in the Jumanji cartoon series (1996)
• Forté in Disney's ', earning him an Annie Award nomination.
• Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberries TV series and subsequent movies (1998)
• Stratos the air god in the video game "Sacrifice" (2000)
• The Mouse King in Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001)
• The Cat King in the English dubbed version of Neko no ongaeshi (2002)
• General Von Talon in "Valiant" (2005)
• Narrator of the Lemony Snicket audio books
• Dr. Doom in the Fantastic Four 1994-1995 Animated Series

Awards and nominations

• 1981 Tony Award nomination, Best Actor in a Play (for playing the title role in "Amadeus")
• 1993 Tony Award nomination, Best Actor in a Musical (for playing Alan Swann in "My Favorite Year")
• 1994 Emmy Award nomination, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (for a trio of roles in Tales from the Crypt, in an episode entitled "Death of Some Salesmen")
• 1996 Razzie Award nomination, Worst Supporting Actor (for playing Herkermer Homolka in the movie "Congo")
• 1998 Annie Award nomination, Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production (for playing Forté in "")
• 2005 Tony Award nomination, Best Actor in a Musical (for playing King Arthur in "Monty Python's Spamalot")