Tim Curry

English stage and screen actor whose gleeful villainy, from Frank-N-Furter to Pennywise, made him a genre-spanning cult icon across six decades.

MUSIC VIDEO · Tim Curry

VIDEO · FROM TIM CURRY ON YOUTUBE

OPEN SPOTIFY

LISTEN

ARTIST LINKS

English stage and screen actor whose gleeful villainy, from Frank-N-Furter to Pennywise, made him a genre-spanning cult icon across six decades.

MOODS · campy · theatrical · menacing · playful · eccentric · villainous · flamboyant · gothic · witty · dramatic · macabre · cult

BIOGRAPHY

Timothy James Curry (19 April 1946 - 25 August 2026) was an English actor and singer who amassed more than 240 credits over a career spanning nearly 60 years. He studied Drama and English at Birmingham University, made his acting debut in the West End production of Hair, and rose to fame as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show and its 1975 film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. His stage work earned three Tony nominations, for Amadeus, My Favorite Year, and Spamalot, plus two Olivier nominations for The Pirates of Penzance and Spamalot. On screen he played Rooster Hannigan in Annie, the Lord of Darkness in Legend, Wadsworth in Clue, Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers, and Pennywise in Stephen King's It, alongside voice roles like Nigel Thornberry. After a 2012 stroke he continued voice work, and his memoir Vagabond was published in 2025.

WHY THEY'RE COOL

Curry built a rare kind of stardom on eccentricity and menace played with evident relish. Roger Ebert singled him out in The Rocky Horror Picture Show as "the best thing in the movie," while later tributes from The New York Times, CNN, and Rolling Stone described his "gift for garish eccentricity," his status as a "massively popular cult figure," and his place as a "genuine pop-culture icon." Few performers moved as fluidly between Broadway drama, horror television, and children's animation while remaining instantly recognizable in every register.