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.

Early Life

Tim Curry's father James was a Methodist chaplain for the British Navy, though Tim himself was always a "cheerful agnostic" (his own words), and remains so to this day. Upon James' death in 1958, Tim relocated to South London, where he attended a boarding school founded by the father of Methodism John Wesley. Despite these roots, the school remained "quite liberal," and Tim found joy not in the religious aspect especially but rather in the vast number of hymns available. It was here that his desire for singing came out as he developed into a talented boy soprano. When his voice broke, he was fortunate to be under the tutelage of a music teacher who encouraged him to develop a mature singing voice.

Related Topics:
Methodist - British Navy - Boarding school - John Wesley - Boy soprano

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When he was 19, he began his studies at the University of Birmingham, completing a joint honours in English and Drama before moving on to study at the University of Cambridge.

Related Topics:
University of Birmingham - University of Cambridge

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He cites Billie Holiday as his major musical influence, saying that he "listened to nothing but her records for 2 years" during a period of teenage depression as he contemplated on "which gloomy Sunday afternoon I was going to throw myself under a car".

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