British actor Tim Curry, whose gloriously uninhibited performance in ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ made him one of popular culture’s most distinctive and enduring stars, has died at the age of 80.
Curry died peacefully at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, his longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz confirmed. A cause of death has not been disclosed, although the actor had experienced serious health problems for many years.
He suffered a major stroke in 2012, which affected his mobility and left him using a wheelchair. Nevertheless, he continued to work, particularly as a voice actor, and returned to the big screen with a cameo appearance at the very end of the 2024 horror film ‘Stream’.
Tim Curry’s youthful Riviera adventure and an encounter with Picasso
Long before Hollywood and international fame, Curry spent part of a formative gap year travelling through Europe with his school friend Richard Cork, who would later become a distinguished art critic.
The two 19-year-olds travelled in a van and found work on a boat in Cannes. One day, while exploring the French Riviera, they noticed Pablo Picasso having lunch at a café.
Curry later recalled the incident in his 2025 memoir, ‘Vagabond’.
He wrote: “We spotted Pablo Picasso eating lunch at a café along the route, and Richard practically ran back to the boat to grab his sketchbook so he could start creating his own rendering of Picasso.
“Noticing our interest, Picasso beckoned us over, turned the page over in Richard’s sketchbook, did a silly little sketch of his own on the back, and then signed it.
“As he handed it to Richard he smiled and said, “Just in case you want to stay a bit longer in Cannes,” meaning he intended us to sell it and make a bit of extra cash.”
According to The Guardian, Cork never sold it, and was still its proud owner when Curry’s book was published last year.
Who was Tim Curry?
Born Timothy James Curry in Grappenhall, Cheshire, on 19 April 1946, he enjoyed a career spanning more than five decades across theatre, film, television and music. His unforgettable characters included the terrifying clown Pennywise in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘It’, Wadsworth the butler in Clue, Darkness in Ridley Scott’s Legend, Rooster Hannigan in Annie, the suspicious hotel concierge in Home Alone 2 and Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island.
He was nominated for three Tony Awards, for his performances in Amadeus, My Favorite Year and Monty Python’s Spamalot, and won a Daytime Emmy in 1991 for voicing Captain Hook in the animated series Peter Pan & the Pirates.
The role that changed everything
Curry’s greatest and most culturally influential achievement, however, was creating the role of Dr Frank-N-Furter in the original London stage production of The Rocky Horror Show in 1973 and then immortalising the character in the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The film initially struggled at the box office, but found an extraordinary second life through late-night screenings (particularly in Piccadilly Circus), audience participation and generations of fans arriving dressed as its characters. Half a century later, it remains one of cinema’s defining cult classics and an exuberant celebration of individuality and self-expression.
Curry’s Riviera on screen and in song
Curry returned to the Riviera, at least on screen, in the 1987 television film Riviera. The English-language action adventure follows a former American spy, played by Ben Masters, who emerges from hiding to try to save his father’s château in the South of France. The cast also included French actor Michel Lonsdale and others.
The French Riviera even found its way into Curry’s lesser-known career as a rock singer. He released three solo studio albums between 1978 and 1981, the last of which, Simplicity, included the original song “Working on My Tan”.
Written by Curry, the playful track depicts Nikki living in a caravan at a Riviera campsite, enduring the insects while remaining determined to perfect her suntan. It is a far less glamorous portrait of the Côte d’Azur than the yachts, villas and grand hotels usually celebrated in music and film, and one that may have carried a faint echo of Curry’s own youthful European travels.
Tim Curry never married and had no children. He leaves behind an enormous and wonderfully unconventional body of work, as well as a legion of fans.
