Celebrity4 min(s) read
Tim Curry's final public appearance was at the 50th anniversary celebration of the film that made him a legend, surrounded by the people he made it with, in a wheelchair, cracking jokes about Queen Camilla.
The actor, who died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening at the age of 80, attended the Rocky Horror Picture Show 50th Anniversary Spectacular Tour at Town Hall in New York City on November 3 last year.
He posed for photographs with original cast members Patricia Quinn, Barry Bostwick, and Nell Campbell.
It was the last time he was seen in public.
Three weeks earlier, on October 15, he had appeared at a Rocky Horror celebration at the Grammy Museum LA Live.
When Curry entered the theatre in his wheelchair, the audience stood up, and some of them were crying.
He had been using a wheelchair since a stroke in 2012 that left him with limited mobility and affected his speech. None of that had dulled him.
He was, by all accounts, still completely himself.
Rolling Stone described him as 'still sharp as a tack' with 'a vivid memory matched only by his dry humor'.
He joked about LA traffic and even called Queen Camilla a 'frump'.
He then told the audience that during the original UK stage rehearsals in 1973, he had initially played Dr Frank-N-Furter with a German accent before switching to the drawling, aristocratic voice that became one of the most famous performances in cinema.
He was 79 at the time, and he died 10 months later.
He was born on April 19, 1946, in Warrington, England.
He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was cast as Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show on the London stage in 1973 before reprising the role in the 1975 film that turned him into a cult icon.
From there, the range was staggering.
Pennywise the clown in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King's IT, a performance that traumatised an entire generation of children and remains for many the definitive version of the character.
Wadsworth the butler in Clue, which flopped at the box office in 1985 and then became one of the most quoted comedies of all time.
The concierge in Home Alone 2, Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island, Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys, Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers, Darkness in Ridley Scott's Legend.
He did a lot, in short.
Curry could do camp, menace, comedy, and genuine terror, sometimes in the same scene.
He played villains who made you laugh and monsters who made you check under the bed. He sang. He danced. He wore corsets and pearls in front of millions and dared anyone to question it.
In July 2012, Curry suffered a major stroke at his home in Los Angeles.
It left him partially paralysed and largely confined to a wheelchair. His speech was affected. Public appearances became rare.
But he never fully retreated. He continued doing voice work. He appeared at fan conventions when his health allowed.
He reunited with the Rocky Horror cast for a televised performance in 2016 and received a standing ovation without saying a word.
The 2025 Rocky Horror anniversary events were his last public act.
He spent them surrounded by the people he started with, in the city that gave him his career, being cheered by fans who had been watching him for 50 years.
