Acting Rocky Horror Curry's first full-time role was as part of the original London cast of the musical
Hair in 1968, where he met
Richard O'Brien, who went on to write Curry's role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in
The Rocky Horror Show (1973). Curry recalled his first encounter with the project: Originally, Curry rehearsed the character with a German
accent and
peroxide blond hair, and later, with an American accent. In March 2005, in an interview with
Terry Gross of
NPR's
Fresh Air, he explained that he decided to play Dr. Frank-N-Furter with an English accent after listening to an English woman say, "Do you have a house in town or a house in the country?," and decided, "Yes, [Dr. Frank-N-Furter] should sound like
the Queen." Curry originally thought the character was merely a laboratory doctor dressed in a white lab coat. However, at the suggestion of director Sharman, the character evolved into the diabolical
mad scientist and
transvestite with an upper-class
Belgravia accent. An immediate hit, a reviewer at the premiere in London in June 1973 wrote that Curry gives a "garishly
Bowiesque performance as the ambisextrous doctor." This change carried over to the 1975 film adaptation,
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which made Curry a household name and gave him a
cult following. Curry continued to play the character in London, Los Angeles, and New York City until 1975. In an interview with NPR, Curry called
Rocky Horror a "
rite of passage", and added that the film is "a guaranteed weekend party to which you can go with or without a date and probably find one if you don't have one, and it's also a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, you know? Figure out, help them maybe figure out their own sexuality." In 2025, Curry was an invited guest speaker at the
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to celebrate the film's 50th anniversary.
Theatre Shortly after the end of
Rocky Horrors run on Broadway, Curry returned to the stage with
Tom Stoppard's
Travesties, which ran in London and New York from 1975 to 1976.
Travesties was a Broadway hit. It won two
Tony Awards (Best Performance by an Actor for
John Wood and Best Comedy), as well as the
New York Drama Critics Circle Award (Best Play), and Curry's performance as the famous
dadaist Tristan Tzara received good reviews. In 1980, Curry formed part of the original cast in the Broadway show
Amadeus, playing the title character,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Curry was nominated for his first
Tony Award (
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play) for this role but lost out to his co-star
Ian McKellen, who played
Antonio Salieri. In 1982, Curry took the part of the Pirate King in the
Drury Lane production of
Joe Papp's version of
Gilbert and Sullivan's
The Pirates of Penzance opposite
George Cole and
Pamela Stephenson, earning enthusiastic reviews. in London where Curry reprised his role as King Arthur In the mid-1980s, Curry performed in
The Rivals and in several plays with the
Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, including
The Threepenny Opera,
Dalliance and
Love For Love. From 1987 to 1988, he did the American National Tour of
Me and My Girl in the lead role of Bill Snibson, a role originated on Broadway by
Robert Lindsay. In 1989, Curry returned once again to the New York stage in
The Art of Success, and in 1992 played Alan Swann in the Broadway version of
My Favorite Year, earning him his second Tony Award nomination, this time for
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. In 2001, Curry appeared as
Scrooge in a
musical version of the
Charles Dickens novella.
A Christmas Carol that played at
Madison Square Garden. In 2004, Curry began his role of
King Arthur in
Spamalot in Chicago. Directed by
Mike Nichols, written by
Monty Python member
Eric Idle and based on
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the show successfully moved to Broadway in February 2005. It sold more than $1 million worth of tickets in its first 24 hours. His performance brought him a third Tony nomination, again for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Curry reprised this role at the
Palace Theatre in the West End, where
Spamalot opened on 16 October 2006. His final performance came on 6 January 2007. Curry was nominated for a
Laurence Olivier Award for his work in
Spamalot, and he also won the
Theatregoers' Choice Award (receiving 39% of the votes cast by over 12,000 theatregoers) as Best Actor in a Musical. From May to August 2011, Curry was scheduled to portray the Player in a
Trevor Nunn stage production of Tom Stoppard's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the
Chichester Festival Theatre and then in
London. Curry withdrew from the production on 27 May, citing ill health but later admitting that he was fired for being unable to memorize his lines. From 26 to 29 April 2012, he appeared in
Eric Idle's play
What About Dick? at the
Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Curry had originally appeared at a script reading for the play back in 2007 when it was still a work in progress. Curry's career in theatre was honoured on 7 June 2015 at the
Actors Fund's 19th annual Tony Awards Viewing Party, where he was awarded an Artistic Achievement Award.
Film After
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Curry began to appear in many films, acting in supporting roles, such as J. in
Three Men in a Boat (1975), Robert Graves in the
horror film The Shout (1978), as Johnny LaGuardia in
Times Square (1980), as Daniel Francis "Rooster" Hannigan in
John Huston's 1982 film version of
Annie, and as Jeremy Hancock in the political film ''
The Ploughman's Lunch (1983). In 1985, Curry starred in the fantasy film Legend as The Lord of Darkness. Director Ridley Scott cast Curry in the film after watching him in Rocky Horror
, thinking he was ideal to play the role of Darkness. It took five and a half hours to apply the makeup needed for Darkness onto Curry, and at the end of the day, he would spend an hour in a bath to liquefy the soluble spirit gum. The same year, Curry appeared in the comedy mystery film Clue'' as Wadsworth the butler. Starting in the 1990s, Curry began to appear more frequently in Hollywood film productions, including comedic roles such as Dr. Thornton Poole in
Oscar (1991), Mr. Hector, the suspicious Plaza Hotel concierge in
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Jigsaw in
Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), and
Long John Silver in
Muppet Treasure Island (1996). Curry also appeared in action films, such as the
thriller The Hunt for Red October (1990) as Dr. Yevgeniy Petrov, the 1993 adaptation of
The Three Musketeers as
Cardinal Richelieu, the
superhero film The Shadow (1994) as Farley Claymore, and the action adventure
Congo (1995) as Herkermer Homolka. He also starred in the 1998 direct-to-video film
Addams Family Reunion playing
Gomez Addams. In the early 2000s, Curry's big screen appearances lessened, but he did portray Roger Corwin in the
film adaptation of ''
Charlie's Angels (2000), Professor Oldman in the parody film Scary Movie 2 (2001), and Thurman Rice in the biographical film Kinsey (2004). His last major role in a feature film was as Alexander Monro in the British black comedy Burke & Hare'' (2010). In 2024, he had a cameo appearance in the mid-credits of the horror film
Stream, portraying the masked character "Lockwood".
Television Curry started his career with small roles in television series, such as Eugene in
Napoleon and Love (1974), and guest roles in
Armchair Theatre and the
BBC's
Play for Today including as Glen in
Dennis Potter's
Schmoedipus (1974). He played
William Shakespeare in the
John Mortimer-scripted six-part mini-series.
Will Shakespeare (1978). Broadcast on
ITV in the UK and distributed internationally by
ITC, it traces the bard's life from 1590 until his death. Curry had further roles in British television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including the lead in
Stephen Frears' 1975 adaptation of
Three Men in a Boat, playing
Bill Sikes in
Oliver Twist (1982), playing aspiring actor-singer Larry Gormley in
Blue Money (1985), and starring as the Grand Wizard in the children's
Halloween film
The Worst Witch (1986). Curry then moved permanently to the United States and appeared in American television productions: he appeared in the "Dead Dog Records" storyline of the television series
crime drama Wiseguy (1989) as Winston Newquay and was nominated for a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for portraying all three members of a deranged family in
Tales from the Crypt (1993). He also had recurring roles on the short-lived
science fiction television series
Earth 2 (1994) and the sitcom
Rude Awakening (1999–2000). Although Curry has appeared in numerous television series throughout his career, he has only had lead roles in two live-action series:
Over the Top (1997), a
sitcom that he also produced, and the revival series of
Family Affair (2002–2003). Both were cancelled after one season. Around this time, Curry also made a single-episode appearance on the live-action comedy-detective series
Psych (2007) as Nigel St. Nigel, a Simon Cowell-esque judge on a singing competition show being targeted. He returned to working on British television in the late 2000s, with the miniseries adaptation of ''
Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic (2008), a guest appearance on the long-running Agatha Christie's Poirot (2008), and the miniseries Return to Cranford (2009). His final episodic television role was in 2010 on Criminal Minds'', portraying unsub Billy Flynn in two episodes. One of Curry's best-known television roles is as
Pennywise the Clown in the
horror miniseries ''
Stephen King's It (1990). Aside from one Fangoria interview in 1990, Curry never publicly acknowledged his involvement in It'' until an interview with
Moviefone in 2015, where he called the role of Pennywise "a wonderful part."
Voice acting Curry has appeared in many animated television series and films, starting with the performance of the
Serpent in
The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (1988). Curry won a
Daytime Emmy Award for his performance as
Captain Hook in the
Fox animated series
Peter Pan and the Pirates (1990–1991). His longest-running animated role was as Nigel Thornberry in
The Wild Thornberrys (1998–2004), which ran for five seasons on
Nickelodeon. Curry became the voice of
Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in
Star Wars: The Clone Wars upon the death of
Ian Abercrombie. Other notable animated television roles include MAL in
Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1991–1996), Zimbo in
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1994–1997), King Chicken in
Duckman (1994–1997), Dr. Anton Sevarius in
Gargoyles (1995–1996), Slagar in
Redwall (2000–2001), Professor Finbarr Calamitous in
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2003–2005),
G. Gordon Godfrey in
Young Justice (2012–2013), and The Sorcerer in
Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja (2012–2014). Most recently on television, he voiced Auntie Whispers on the
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy-winning miniseries
Over the Garden Wall (2014). Curry has also done voice acting in a number of animated films, most notably
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992),
Don Bluth's
The Pebble and the Penguin (1995),
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) for which he received an
Annie Award nomination, ''
Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost (1999), the first Barbie film Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001), reprising his role of Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002) and Rugrats Go Wild'' (2003), the English dub of
Studio Ghibli's
The Cat Returns (2005) and
Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006). His video game credits include the titular character in
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993) and
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999),
Tim Schafer's
Brütal Legend (2009), and the first game in the
Dragon Age series,
Dragon Age: Origins (2009). Curry's performance as Premier Anatoly Cherdenko in
live-action cut scenes in
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008) has gone
viral as a
meme. Curry's audiobook work includes his
Grammy-nominated narration of
Lemony Snicket's
A Series of Unfortunate Events,
Geraldine McCaughrean's
Peter Pan in Scarlet,
Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol and the
Abhorsen trilogy. Curry has done voiceovers for various advertisements for products and companies such as
Smirnoff,
Cravendale and
Paramount Network.
Music Aside from his performances on various soundtrack records, Curry has had some success as a solo musical artist. Curry received classical vocal training as a boy. He has mentioned that his musical influences included jazz vocalists such as
Billie Holiday and
Louis Armstrong, and he idolised
The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones as a teenager. In 1978,
A&M Records released Curry's debut solo album
Read My Lips. This record, which did not sell as well as the previous offerings, combined both original songs and cover versions. Still, it was the only Curry recording to hit the charts in Canada, reaching No. 45 on the album chart. The writing, production, and musician roster for Curry's solo albums included an impressive list of collaborators, including
Bob Ezrin,
Dick Wagner, and
David Sanborn. In 1989, A&M released
The Best of Tim Curry on CD and cassette, featuring songs from his albums (including a live version of "Alan") and a previously unreleased song, a live cover version of
Bob Dylan's "
Simple Twist of Fate". Curry toured
North America and some European countries with his band between 1978 and 1980. In 1990, Curry performed as the Prosecutor in
Roger Waters' production of
The Wall – Live in Berlin. Although Curry's first album was released in 1978, he had previously recorded a nine-track album for
Lou Adler's
Ode Records in 1976. However, the album remained unreleased in its entirety until February 2010, when it was made available as a legal download entitled
...From the Vaults (though four tracks from these sessions had been released on a 1990
Rocky Horror box set). The album, produced by Lou Adler, included Curry's rendition of
the Supremes' hit "
Baby Love". ==Personal life==