Tim Curry, the offbeat British actor who specialized in playing eccentrics like the seductive, cross-dressing scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and such fiendish villains as Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s It, has died. He was 80.
Curry died Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles, TMZ reported. He suffered a major stroke in 2012.
Curry joined Rocky Horror in the original stage production at a tiny upstairs venue at London’s Royal Court Theatre, stuck with the sexual farce as it moved to larger London venues and Broadway and then starred with a young Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick in the 1975 Fox movie adaptation.
At the movies, audience members would dress up as their favorite characters, bring props and throw items around the theater as they sang along to favorites like “Time Warp,” “Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch Me” and, performed by Curry, the sensationally bawdy “Sweet Transvestite.”
“It’s a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, maybe help them figure out their own sexuality,” Curry said of the film in a 2005 interview with NPR. “I’ve certainly had some very interesting and moving mail from people who’ve said, ‘Thanks for helping me figure out who I was,’ and that’s very nice.”
