Just a day after the tragic passing of Dolly Parton, the world has lost another icon in Tim Curry, who reportedly died on Tuesday at the age of 80. Police sources told TMZ that officers responded to his home in Los Angeles at 11.23pm on August 25th. No cause of death was confirmed, but the actor had been suffering from a series of health issues after a stroke in 2012 left him unable to walk. In one of his final interviews before his tragic passing, Curry – best known for his roles as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show and the original Pennywise in the miniseries It – opened up about his own mortality. Credit: 20th Century Fox Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning last October, Curry reflected candidly on the devastating stroke he suffered in 2012 and the long recovery that followed. He recalled having no idea anything was wrong until a masseur became concerned and called an ambulance. It was only after arriving at the hospital that Curry learned he had suffered a stroke caused by two blood clots in his brain. The diagnosis immediately made him think of his father, who had also suffered a stroke when Curry was a child. “I thought immediately of my dad and I knew that a lot of people didn’t survive a stroke, and that he was an exception,” he said. “So I was scared.” Curry subsequently underwent brain surgery, spent around a month in hospital and had to learn how to speak again. More than a decade later, Curry was still living with the effects. Although he was no longer paralysed, he explained that his left side remained extremely sensitive and he was often unable to use his left arm or leg. Despite everything he had been through, Curry said he tried not to indulge in self-pity. “I don’t admire self-pity much,” he explained. When asked if he fears death, he replied, “No, I don’t fear death. I try to avoid it as I think we all do, but I suspect that in the end I will welcome it.” Elaborating on what he meant, he continued, “I think it may be very comforting to go bye-bye and I want to earn it… I want to earn the privilege of not being here. I’m not galloping towards it, but I think I may well embrace it.” Elsewhere in the interview, Curry reflected on the extraordinary career that made him a cult icon, spanning everything from Clue and It to the role that would become inseparable from his name: Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show and its 1975 film adaptation. Asked what made Frank’s legacy so special, Curry didn’t focus on his own fame. Instead, he pointed to what the character had meant to generations of young people who saw themselves as different. “He gave a lot of teenagers permission to be different,” Curry said. “And I’m very happy that he did have that power.” Curry admitted he had actually grown to “rather despise” fame, explaining that he cared much more about disappearing into his characters than becoming a recognisable celebrity. “I wasn’t interested in a kind of insta-fame,” he said. “I just wanted to be good at it.” RIP Curry – gone but never forgotten. Featured image credit: Broadimage/Shutterstock Post navigation Next story
