The Rocky Horror Picture Show star Tim Curry has died at the age of 80.
The British actor, best known for his eccentric on-screen performances, unmistakable voice and mischievous grin, died on Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles, Variety confirmed.
His cause of death has not been confirmed, but Curry suffered a major stroke in 2012, which left him partially paralysed on one side of his body. He faced serious health issues in the years since.
Tributes have poured in for the actor, with his Annie co-star Carol Burnett writing: ‘Nobody could play lovable villains better than he could.’
Luke Evans, who recently concluded a seven-month run in The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway, called Curry ‘a force, a bright fierce flame, an exquisite charm’.
Curry’s Clue costar Michael McKean wrote on X: ‘My last conversation with Tim Curry was about life and love and laughter. The grim physical state he found himself in has now ended, a blessing,’ he concluded, referring to his health issues.
The actor recalled the moment he collapsed at his home while having a massage in his 2025 memoir Vagabond.
‘I did not fade to black. I did not even feel out of sorts, or like something was very wrong. In fact, I had no idea that anything was off at all,’ he wrote.
It was the masseuse who noticed something was amiss and called an ambulance even though the actor told him not to, assuming it was an overreaction.
‘I probably owe my life to the fact that he ignored me, went with his instinct, and called an ambulance,’ he added.
‘Even as they were loading me in, I still thought my masseur had overreacted, and that we were going through a ridiculous and unnecessary exercise.’
It is for his part as Dr Frank-N-Furter, the ‘sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania’ in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, that Curry will no doubt be remembered.
Curry first starred in the legendary musical comedy on stage in London, before it was adapted for screen in 1975, with Susan Sarandon, Meat Loaf and Barry Bostwick co-starring.
The film initially flopped in cinemas, but later became a cult classic, with routine midnight screenings in which attendees dress up and do the Time Warp.
‘I was hesitant in that, if it worked, it might be a difficult image to shake off,’ Curry rather prophetically said of the role that defined his acting career, in a1975 interview. ‘But really, I’ve often thought that it wasn’t worth doing unless you took a risk.’
