Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Cult Classic Favorite: Tim Curry

I highly enjoy Tim Curry. I really can not understand why I love him so much. Maybe it is because all the characters he has played are so classic. Maybe it's that distinct voice of his. I really can not put my finger on it... but he continues to win my affection again and again. So I thought I would honor him. Give him an ode for all the fine entertaining he has brought to the world over the past several decades. 
Let's start from his humble beginnings... 
It all started in the late 1960's when he was casted in the original, London Cast, Hair. A musical that is outdated now, but still quite wonderful. Plus they all come out naked at the end of the first act. So that always keeps things a little interesting, right?
    
    

Here we have a young Tim Curry, at the tender age of 23 discussing Hair.
It was while working on Hair, the Curry met the man, Richard O'Brien, that would place him in one of the most iconic roles of all time... 
 
Rocky Horror Picture Show. In this fine piece cult cinematography, Curry takes of the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter, a mad scientist/transvestite. This role launched his career.
He continued to play this role also on broadway until 1975, in London, LA, and NY.   
While Rocky Horror Picture Show was a major success, he went on to play many other roles in the theatre realm... 
  
Here he is play in the original cast playing Wolfgang Amadeus Motzart, in Amadeus... Also mind you that is Ian Mckellan next to him... eehm, LOTR's Gandalf.  He also starred in Travesties, The Pirates of Penzance, Me and My Girl, My Favorite Year, Monty Python's Spamalot, What About Dick?, numerous plays with the Royal National Theatre, and many other productions!
 
Exciting, right? Well his roles would continued to be nothing but sheer glory in the movie industry...
 
While I would love to go through each and every role, this post would probably take light years to get through... so I'll stick to some of his most popular roles. 
He played the bad guy, Rooster Hannigan, in 1982's Annie
Wadsworth, the butler in 1985's Clue. A personal favorite!
  
  
in 1990, he was in The Hunt for Red October as Dr. Petrov. 
 
What a nice picture.  
THEN THIS HAPPENED. 
 
That same year he made the transformation to Pennywise the Dancing Clown. He terrified and ate children in the ABC miniseries It. Don't worry, Pennywise was destroyed in the end. 

JUST KIDDING.
Soon he became part of one of the most popular christmas franchise, Home Alone. He had the role of the the concierge in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
  
Skip ahead nearly a decade and he made appearances in a variety of movies such as Scary Movie 2 and Kinsey, the biopic of Alfred Kinsey.  
Now when I ask a person my age if they know who Tim Curry is they say no. I'll bring up Home Alone or Rocky Horror Picture Show, and some of them sort of remember. Contrary to their belief, they are quite familiar to Tim Curry. Especially his voice. For he was the man behind many of our favorite cartoon characters. 
Nigel Thornberry
 
Rex Pester in The Rugrats Movie.
 
Then so many other more! 
Here is to Tim Curry. What a international treasure.
I hope after reading this post, he now holds a special place in your heart as he does in mine.  

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