Tim Curry, who gained everlasting fame for playing Dr. Frank N. Furter in 1975’s cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” has died in Los Angeles at the age of 80.
Curry died at his home late Tuesday, according to TMZ, which was the first to report the news.
The cause of death was not provided, but Curry had been in declining health since suffering a massive stroke in 2012, though he continued to work.
Born in Grappenhall, Cheshire, England, Curry’s involvement with the role that would change his life began in 1973, when Richard O’Brien’s musical comedy “The Rocky Horror Show” debuted on the London stage. Curry worked to further develop the lead character, a transvestite mad scientist, deciding to give him an English accent.
“(Dr. Frank N. Furter) should sound like the queen,” he once told NPR.
Two years later, the play was adapted into a film directed by Jim Sharman. The story concerns a young, sheltered engaged couple played by Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick whose car breaks down in the rain near a country castle. They’re taken in by Curry’s doctor and meet his bizarre coterie of party guests.
The film includes elements of horror, science fiction and classic musical numbers, but it was the transgressive sexual content that earned it an unprecedented cult following. Midnight showings started popping up all across the United States, where fans would dress up as Frank N. Furter and other characters and talk or sing back to the screen.
Those midnight screenings continue to this day, while Curry’s character, who became an icon in the gay community, remains popular as a Halloween costume.
Curry told “CBS Sunday Morning” in 2025 that the film “gave a lot of teenagers permission to be different, and I’m very happy that he did have that power.”
In a 1975 television interview, Curry said of the project: “It seemed like something that would go. I was hesitant in that, if it worked, it might be a difficult image to shake off. But really, I’ve often thought that it wasn’t worth doing unless you took a risk.”
Curry battled to overcome the resulting typecasting, appearing in a steady stream of plays, television shows and supporting film roles in the ensuing decades, often playing exotic villains.
His stage work included a key role in Tom Stoppard’s 1975-76 “Transvestites,” the role of Mozart in a 1980-81 production “Amadeus,” and parts in 1982’s “The Pirates of Penzance,” 1992-93’s “My Favorite Year,” and Ebenezer Scrooge” in 2001’s “A Christmas Carol.”
His many film roles included 1982’s “Annie,” 1985’s “Clue,” 1990’s “The Hunt for Red October,” 1992’s “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” and 2001’s “Scary Movie 2.”
He played the killer clown Pennywise in a 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King’s “It.”
He also won a daytime Emmy for voicing the role of Captain Hook on the 1990-91 Fox animated series “Peter Pan and the Pirates.”
“I like playing the more curious corners of the human mind and human behavior, partly because they’re a tad more interesting,” Curry told the Associated Press in 1993.
His autobiography, “Vagabond: A Memoir,” was published in 2025.
Curry never married and had no children.