Tim Curry, who created 'Rocky Horror's' Frank-N-Furter, dies at 80 at his Los Angeles home

Tim Curry, the actor who created Dr. Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 80. His death was reported by his longtime manager and friend, Marcia Hurwitz, in an Associated Press obituary published August 26, 2026 and carried by LAist. No cause was disclosed.

Curry earned three Tony nominations. They came for "Spamalot," "My Favorite Year" and "Amadeus," the AP reported. He was nominated for an Emmy in 1994. A stroke in 2012 put him in a wheelchair.

He died in the industry town that kept hiring him to be the strange one in the frame. The villain, the butler, the monster. Character work is a job description, and he built a career inside it.

The role he created, then declined to discuss

Frank-N-Furter started on stage. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" premiered in 1973 at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Curry carried the part to Broadway, then starred in the 1975 film alongside Barry Bostwick, Meat Loaf and Susan Sarandon, according to the AP account. The show has been revived twice on Broadway, most recently in 2026, with Luke Evans in the role.

The posh British accent nearly wasn't. Curry told LA Magazine in 2015 that he tried German and American accents first. He changed course after overhearing a woman on a bus.

For years after the film's release he would not talk about it. He stayed away from promotion as midnight screenings turned the movie into an interactive event, and he took part in public appearances again only later. Asked by LA Magazine how he regarded the film, he said he viewed it "with a sort of bemused tolerance." He told the magazine it was neither a blessing nor a curse, and that he was lucky to get it.

From Cheshire to the West End

Curry was born in Cheshire, England, the son of a Navy chaplain and a school secretary. His father died when he was 12. He entered the University of Birmingham in 1965. It was then one of three English universities with a drama department, the AP reported. By his own account he ignored the coursework and acted instead.

He went to London and talked his way into a job in "Hair" in the West End. He then worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court Theatre, where he was cast in "Rocky Horror." His later Broadway work included Tom Stoppard's "Travesties" in 1975-76. He played Mozart opposite Ian McKellen's Salieri in "Amadeus," and King Arthur in the 2005 production of "Spamalot."

Villains, butlers and voice work

On screen, Curry played the child-killing monster in the 1990 miniseries of Stephen King's "It." He was Cardinal Richelieu in 1993's "The Three Musketeers," with Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen and Chris O'Donnell. Other credits ran through the studio middle:

• the concierge in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York"
• Wadsworth the butler in "Clue"
• a wealthy philanthropist in 1995's "Congo"
• a role opposite Carol Burnett in "Annie"

Later he worked mostly in voice roles. Those included "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," "The Wild Thornberrys" and "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius." After a yearslong break from live-action work, he appeared in 2024's "Stream" as a masked man in a wheelchair. The film's director, Michael Leavy, called the casting a dream come true, the outlet reported.

Curry never married and had no children. He kept his private life private. In his 2025 memoir, "Vagabond," he wrote that encounters with fans persuaded him to tell his story. He warned readers that the characters were not him.

"I like playing the more curious corners of the human mind and human behavior, partly because they're a tad more interesting," he told the AP in 1993.

Source: laist.com, retrieved August 27, 2026.