BREAKING NEWS: Tim Curry, Legendary ‘Rocky Horror’ and ‘It’ Star, Dies at 80

A one-of-a-kind performer is gone

LOS ANGELES — Tim Curry, the magnetic British performer whose voice, wit and theatrical fearlessness turned a string of eccentric characters into pop-culture landmarks, has died. He was 80.

Curry died at his Los Angeles home, according to his longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz. No cause of death was immediately disclosed.

For generations of viewers, Curry was impossible to separate from the roles he inhabited: the flamboyant Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the terrifying Pennywise in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King's It, and the deliciously suspicious butler Wadsworth in Clue.

Read the source: Associated Press: Tim Curry, iconic character actor, dies at 80 ↗

Rocky Horror made Curry a permanent cultural icon

Curry first played Frank-N-Furter onstage in London before carrying the role into the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The movie initially struggled at the box office but found a second life through midnight screenings, audience participation and fans who treated every showing as both performance and community ritual.

His performance was bold, mischievous and completely committed. Curry did not merely play to the camera; he seemed to challenge it, combining glam-rock swagger, razor-sharp comic timing and a voice trained for the stage.

The character became so famous that it could have trapped a less versatile actor. Curry instead spent the following decades proving that his range was far wider than any single cult classic.

Read the source: Reuters: Tim Curry, actor famed for Rocky Horror, dies at 80 ↗

From Pennywise and Clue to Broadway and animation

Curry's screen career included Annie, Legend, The Hunt for Red October, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Muppet Treasure Island. In Clue, his escalating physical comedy helped turn the 1985 mystery into another film that grew more beloved with time.

His Pennywise frightened a generation long before Stephen King's novel received its later big-screen adaptation. Curry could make a smile feel welcoming and menacing in the same instant, a quality that became one of the defining features of the performance.

He also earned three Tony Award nominations for Amadeus, My Favorite Year and Monty Python's Spamalot. His distinctive voice powered characters across animation, video games and family entertainment, including The Wild Thornberrys and Peter Pan and the Pirates; the latter earned him a Daytime Emmy.

Read the source: PBS NewsHour: Tim Curry, star of Rocky Horror, dies at 80 ↗

Curry continued creating after a major stroke

A major stroke in 2012 left Curry using a wheelchair and changed the pace of his public work, but it did not erase his connection with audiences. He continued performing voice roles, appearing at fan events and participating in tributes to the work that had shaped his career.

In 2025, Curry published the memoir Vagabond and appeared at a Los Angeles celebration marking 50 years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The photograph accompanying this story was taken at that anniversary event.

Curry leaves behind a body of work unusually resistant to time. His characters remain funny, frightening, strange and alive because he never treated eccentricity as a shortcut. He gave every role intelligence, precision and a little danger—and audiences never forgot him.