Tim Curry, 'Rocky Horror Picture Show,' 'Clue,' and 'It' Star, Dead at 80

Obituary

The actor, who starred in films and TV, including portraying Stephen King's murderous clown Pennywise, died Tuesday night

Tim Curry, the actor best known for playing the “sweet transvestite” Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Stephen King’s murderous clown Pennywise in It, died Tuesday night, as Variety reports. He was 80.

No cause of death has been disclosed. Curry had lived with various ailments following a 2012 stroke.

Curry’s charming swagger, golden voice, and perfect lipstick pout made him a cult-movie legend when The Rocky Horror Picture Show became a midnight-movie success in the mid-Seventies. It was a role that would follow him for the rest of his career. Nevertheless, he’d continue to play oddballs and underdogs — such as the butler Wadsworth in Clue and the Lord of Darkness in Legend (both in 1985) – before scaring the bejesus out of mainstream TV viewers as Pennywise. His deep baritone and British accent helped him find work as a voice actor in cartoons like FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (early 2010s).