Tim curry The enigma of Tim Curry The enigma of Tim Curry
A stroke 13 years ago left Tim Curry partially paralyzed, but that hasn’t diminished his memorable laugh or his mystique. In a film career spanning 50 years, he’s played a variety of characters—quirky, comical, dangerously menacing—yet his most mysterious role remains Tim Curry.
And remaining a mystery is what he wants. “I think that’s important,” he said. “I encourage it.”
Although Curry has published his new memoir, “Vagabond” (published Tuesday by Grand Central), he’s keeping some secrets to himself. “I think an important thing is not to foster an identity, and I’ve tried to maintain that,” he said. “I’ve preserved that, and I will continue to do so.”
Born in Hong Kong into a military family, Curry moved around a lot. As a child, he idolized his father, a chaplain in the British Royal Navy. The last time he saw his father was when he was 10 years old, when he had a stroke: “And as they were taking him away in the ambulance, he said, ‘Take care of your mother.'”
After his father’s death, there was no overshadowing the influence of his mother, who could be kind one moment and cruel the next. “I think now she was probably bipolar, because she could change in an instant,” Curry said.
Acting gave him freedom from his mother’s moods—and the opportunity to explore many different lives. He said what excited him about acting was “the freedom to be someone else, and I think I (like everyone else) was probably attracted to the idea of fame, even though I grew up hating it.”
His first fame came with his first paid work in a 1969 London production of “Hair.” It was a big deal, but nothing compared to what came after: “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” first on stage, then on film. He joked that he got the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter because of his legs. It was a revolutionary performance for Curry and the audience.
Curry says that what made this role unique was his strength: “He gave a lot of teenagers the freedom to be different, and I’m so glad he had that strength.”
“Rocky Horror” catapulted Curry to stardom. It didn’t earn his mother’s praise or respect. She lived with her son’s success for a long time, but Curry said, “She didn’t give it much thought. She was afraid of it.”
Why? “Later she said to me, ‘I thought your head would get too big.’ She wanted me to work without anyone’s supervision!”
He laughed: “I never did. I didn’t care about radar at all!”
I asked, “When Frank was doing his most heinous act [killing Eddie with an axe] in ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ was some of that also about your mother?”
“It’s not about her, but just channeling her,” Curry replied.
“Rocky Horror” gave Curry the opportunity to play some memorable screen villains—under a ton of prosthetics alongside Tom Cruise in “Legend”; playing Pennywise in Stephen King’s thriller “It”; and playing Carol Burnett’s scheming and deceitful brother in “Annie.” Curry said of Burnett, “I loved her to death.”
And don’t forget the hotel concierge in “Home Alone 2” and the cunning butler in “Clue.”
But then came 2012, and the moment that changed Tim Curry’s life. “It was very strange,” he said. “Actually, I was getting a massage, and the man giving it to me said, ‘I’m worried about you. I think we should call the doctor.’ I felt fine. I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms that I was aware of. I wasn’t even in pain.”
But he was taken to the hospital, where he learned he’d had a stroke. “I immediately remembered my dad. So, I was scared,” he said.
He then underwent invasive brain surgery, and had to go through rehabilitation to learn to speak again. “It was very strange,” he said. “I felt really bad about not being able to speak.”
He also has paralysis on his left side. “My face was kind of distorted,” he said.