Tim Curry Home Alone, Rocky Horror Picture Show: A look back at the late star’s iconic roles after death at 80

The world of entertainment is mourning the loss of Tim Curry.

Aged 80, the beloved British actor died on Wednesday in his Los Angeles home.

Curry’s longtime manager, Marcia Hurwitz, said he “passed away peacefully”.

His cause of death has not yet been revealed; however, he had been in a wheelchair since he suffered a stroke in 2012.

The actor was nominated three times for a Tony award for best lead actor, twice in a musical and once in a play.

While Curry is best known for his breakout role of Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, he has a long filmography of stellar films.

His legacy will live on through the indelible mark he left on cinema, television, and theatre.

Here are some films and television series to watch in honour of the late actor.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

In his most recognised role, Curry plays the fishnet and corset-wearing Dr Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 film Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Initially, he played the character on stage in London in 1973 and then in Los Angeles and on Broadway the year after.

The film adaptation of the musical had Curry front and centre playing a “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania”.

It follows a couple whose car breaks down and they seek refuge in a nearby castle inhabited by a mad scientist from space.

With a soundtrack that includes Time Warp, the camp musical is a cult classic which is still regular screened in cinemas more than 50 years later.

Curry’s role in the film helped launch his music career across the 70s and 80s, during which period he released three albums.

Co-star Susan Sarandon wrote on Instagram that Curry was “a funny, sexy original” after his death.

“Thank you Tim for meaning so much to so many people,” she wrote.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

While Curry only played a minor role in the sequel to Home Alone, his villainous Mr Hector manages to steal the show.

In the 1992 film, he plays the concierge at the Plaza Hotel where Kevin McCalister is staying without an adult.

Curry’s Mr Hector is suspicious, nosy and snobby and sneaks into Kevin’s room, confirms the card used at check-in was “stolen”, and recruited his colleagues to drive the child out of their posh hotel.

One of the actors who played the colleagues, Rob Schneider, posted on X that he was “gutted” over Curry’s death.

“A truly gifted performer of stage and screen, his one eyebrow could say more than most actors entire bodies,” he wrote.

Annie

The 1982 film Annie is regarded as one of the best film adaptations of the classic musical.

In it, Curry plays Miss Hannigan’s con-artist brother Rooster.

Delightfully evil, his character schemes to con Daddy Warbucks out of a reward offered for orphan Annie’s missing parents by pretending to be them.

His co-star Carol Burnett paid tribute to the late actor after his death, writing “we had such a wonderful time working together on Annie”.

“Nobody could play lovable villains better than he could,” she wrote on Instagram.

It

Curry played the terrifying clown Pennywise in the television adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.

The 1990 two-part mini-series follows Curry’s character, a dancing and shape-shifting clown, who terrorises the children of a town in Maine.

His performance made the clown a horror icon and terrified a whole generation of viewers.

The series was then transformed into a 2017 film.

Clue

In a film adaptation of the beloved board game Cluedo, Curry played the energetic butler Wadsworth.

It follows six strangers stuck in a mansion with a killer on the loose.

The 1985 film was filled with physical comedy, which the late actor excelled at.

In a unique twist, Clue offers audiences several different endings.

Co-star Lesley Ann Warren wrote on Instagram that Curry was “brilliant, hilarious, hysterically funny” and a “magician of artistry”.

The Wild Thornberrys

The Nickelodeon television series was made iconic by the long-nosed Nigel Thornberry, played by Curry.

He played the documentarian father in the series which followed a family living in a bus in the wild with a daughter who could communicate with animals.

His unmistakeable voice was lent to the series from 1998 to 2004, including a 2002 film adaptation of the series.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea, who played Curry’s son Donnie Thornberry in the animated show, paid tribute to his on-screen dad.

“He was kind, smart and funny as hell,’ he wrote, adding that the 80-year-old’s role in the Rocky Horror Picture show was transformative for him as a child.