Stars of stage and screen have paid tribute to cult British actor Tim Curry, who has died at the age of 80.
“What I loved about him most was his heart,” said Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon, who co-starred with him in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Curry, who was born in the north-western English town of Warrington in 1946, passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday, said his manager. He had used a wheelchair since suffering a major stroke in 2012.
In a career spanning six decades, the prolific actor left his mark on both theatre and film, ranging from Home Alone 2 and Annie to Stephen King’s It and The Hunt for Red October.
But he was perhaps best known for his zany role as the cross-dressing Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
He first played the part on stage before the movie adaptation that propelled him to cult stardom.
Sarandon, who played the heroine Janet Weiss in movie, praised Curry as “a funny, sexy, original”.
“Even wheelchair bound he continued to be so sweet and generous with his fans,” she said. “Thank you Tim for meaning so much to so many people.”
Curry’s longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz confirmed he “passed away peacefully at his home in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles on August 25”.
Australian actress Nell Campbell, who starred alongside Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, told the BBC: “I feel like the head of our family has just died because he was the head of the Rocky Horror family.”
Welsh actor Luke Evans, who played Frank-N-Furter in a Broadway revival, called Curry “a force, a bright fierce flame, an exquisite charm”.
In a letter he recently wrote to Curry, Evans thanked him for his fearlessness and for “creating something so enduring, and for inspiring generations of actors to be a little braver than they thought they could be”.
The official Rocky Horror Picture Show on Broadway account similarly thanked the late actor for “giving the world a little more freedom, a little more fearlessness, and through the tears in our eyes, the courage to BE IT” – a nod to Curry’s delivery of the famous line from the musical: “Don’t dream it, be it.”
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, writer and composer Richard O’Brien, who co-wrote the musical and film, remembered the actor as “a wonderful man by nature who was also a wonderful performer”.
“He never sought attention and never put himself before the roles that he played,” O’Brien said. “He was, in short, a good egg and class act.”
Getty ImagesCurry also starred in the 1996 film Muppet Treasure Island alongside Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog.
He was one of the few humans “to have earned the title of honorary Muppet”, the Muppets account posted on Tuesday.
“As a performer he was unparalleled – witty, charming, unnerving, and deeply funny. We will always consider it one of our greatest treasures to have been part of Long John Silver’s crew,” it added.
American comedy icon Carol Burnett shared a clip of Curry’s turn as her smarmy brother in Annie, posting on social media that “nobody could play lovable villains better than he could”.
Rob Schneider, who played the bellboy to Curry’s uppity hotel clerk in Home Alone 2, also praised Curry as a “sensational character actor”.
“A truly gifted performer of stage and screen, his one eyebrow could say more than most actors entire bodies,” Schneider said.
“I am grateful to have the rare gift of watching him work, he made you better just standing near him.”
Getty ImagesClue co-star and Better Call Saul actor Michael McKean said on social media that his last conversation with Curry was about “life and love and laughter”.
“The grim physical state he found himself in has now ended, a blessing. Our blessing was that we had Tim Curry in our lives. RIP, my friend,” he wrote.
Two other stars of Clue, where Curry played a butler, Christopher Lloyd and Lesley Ann Warren, also paid tribute on social media.
Lloyd shared a photo of Curry from the film along with a heart emoji and Warren called Curry a “dear companion in crime”.
“The brilliant, hilarious, hysterically funny, magician of artistry has left us,” she said.
“What an unbelievable joy to have shared a soundstage with him and to engage with such a master talent. I adored him. Bless his wild and inspired soul.”
