Tim Curry, Outlandish Star of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ Dies at 80

Tim Curry, the offbeat British actor who specialized in playing eccentrics like the seductive, cross-dressing scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and such fiendish villains as Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s It , has died. He was 80.

Curry died Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles, TMZ reported . He suffered a major stroke in 2012.

Curry joined Rocky Horror in the original stage production at a tiny upstairs venue at London’s Royal Court Theatre, stuck with the sexual farce as it moved to larger London venues and Broadway and then starred with a young Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick in the 1975 Fox movie adaptation.

At the movies, audience members would dress up as their favorite characters, bring props and throw items around the theater as they sang along to favorites like “Time Warp,” “Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch Me” and, performed by Curry, the sensationally bawdy “Sweet Transvestite.”

“It’s a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, maybe help them figure out their own sexuality,” Curry said of the film in a 2005 interview with NPR. “I’ve certainly had some very interesting and moving mail from people who’ve said, ‘Thanks for helping me figure out who I was,’ and that’s very nice.”

Curry went on to a successful, varied career, immediately seeking a departure from the zany role with which he’d become identified. He hit the mainstream consciousness in Annie (1982), playing antagonist Rooster Hannigan, who schemed with his sister, orphanage matron Miss Hannigan ( Carol Burnett ), to kidnap Annie (Aileen Quinn).

His villainy went to a darker place in 1990 when he appeared as the twisted Pennywise in a two-part ABC adaptation of It , with more than 37 million households tuning in. He turned the traditional clown on its head and employed a low, raspy voice and New York accent.

“My job was to give Tim the stage and not get in his way too much,” director Tommy Lee Wallace told THR in 2017. “He was like Robin Williams in the way he brought a spontaneous improvisation to the part.”

Curry was nominated for three best actor Tonys. The first was for originating the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1981’s Amadeus , though he lost out to co-star Ian McKellen as the composer’s rival, Antonio Salieri. In 1993, he was nominated again, this time for portraying alcoholic actor Alan Swann in the musical My Favorite Year .

His third nom came in 2005 for playing King Arthur in the hugely popular goofball musical Monty Python’s Spamalot , based the 1975 movie Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Curry joined the cast when the show bowed in Chicago in 2004, and his three-year stint also included a stop in London.

On adapting a film that was so popular, Curry said, “It’s quite interesting because the audience always contains some core of Monty Python fans, who see stuff coming and react with great whoops of joy and then settle down to see it unfold. They are hugely welcoming, and they really want to see it happen.