Tim Curry Biography/History

During the early spring 1946, in the small village of Grappenhall, England, a baby boy was born to James and Patricia Curry. Reverend Curry, a Methodist Naval Chaplain, and his family were stationed there for another six months before a new assignment to Hong Kong caused them to move yet again. Tim has said 'The world was my home. My mother met my father in Malta and they were married in Egypt. My sister was born in Egypt and has dual citizenship. I was conceived in South Africa and born in England." Returning to England in 1948, they lived around the port cities of Plymouth and Portsmouth in the southernmost part of England where Patricia's father worked in the dockyard in Plymouth. Dartmoor moor is near Plymouth, think: The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Tim spent four years at a junior school in Plymouth, two years at a boarding school located in Bath and then five years at Kingswood. He was a boy soprano in the church at the age of six and was doing Shakespeare at the age of ten. Tim said that moving around so much when he was young was good training for an actor, "because never staying anywhere long enough to make good friends, you soon learn how to please children very quickly." When Tim was 12, his father died, so he and his mother moved to a suburb of London where he then went to a boarding school. At Kingswood, he acted in school plays, and was influenced by an older schoolmate, "Clue" writer-director Jonathan Lynn, in his later decision to take up theatre.

He took a year off to work on boats in the Mediterranean traveling to Morocco, Belguim, and the south of France before enrolling in Birmingham University. He has said, "The reason I went to Birmingham is that it was affiliated to the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford and it had a really good drama society. Basically while I was there I just did a lot of plays and I didn't actually show up for class a lot. They actually tried to stop me taking my finals because one of the lecturers had never actually clapped eyes on me. But I made it through by the skin of my teeth." He graduated with combined honors in English and drama.

Only a few months after he left university (at 22) he got a role, as part of the chorus or 'Tribe' as it was called, in the London production of Hair, where he appeared for fifteen months from 1968 to early 1970. He told the producers he had an equity card, which he didn't, and that he had previous experience on the London stage, which he didn't. By the time they found him out, they wanted him badly enough to smooth over all the paper work problems.This was followed by more study and work in the Royal Court and Glasgow Civic Repertory Companies .

In the course of his experience, Tim has sung opera at Sadler Wells (Puck in Benjamin Brittan's A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Scottish Opera Company), co-starred in an evening of Brecht-Weil songs with Georgia Brown at the Royal Court, and played in a variety of British theatrical productions, including Galileo, Danton's Death, The Sport of My Mad Mother, The White Devil, Cinderella, Give the Gaffers Time to Love You, The Maids, England's Ireland, Once Upon a Time, Lay Down I Think I Love You, Man is Man, The Baby Elephant, and the Royal Shakespeare Company's After Haggerty and Titus Andronicus.

In June, 1973, Tim Curry landed the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter in the original London production of The Rocky Horror Show, for which he auditioned with a rousing rendition of Little Richard's "Tutti Fruitti". He recreated the role of the transvestite scientist in the Los Angeles and Broadway productions and starred in the screen version entitled THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, which marked his motion picture debut.

Mr. Curry continued his career on the New York, Los Angeles and London stages (including the National Theatre of Great Britain) with starring roles in Travesties, Amadeus (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for best actor), The Pirates of Penzance (for which he won the Royal Variety Club Award as "Stage Actor of the Year"), The Rivals, Love for Love, Dalliance, The Threepenny Opera, Love Letters, The Art of Success, and My Favorite Year (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for best actor in a musical), and he starred in the U.S. tour of Me and My Girl. His films include The Shout, Times Square, Annie, The Ploughman's Lunch, Clue, Legend, Pass the Ammo, The Hunt for Red October, Oscar, FernGully...the Last Rainforest, Passed Away, The Player (video/laserdisc outtakes section), Home Alone 2, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Disney's The Three Musketeers, The Shadow, The Pebble and the Penguin, Congo, Muppet Treasure Island, Lover's Knot and McHale's Navy. He performed in Roger Waters' historic production of The Wall in Berlin in July, 1990. He has been seen on American and British television in Three Men in a Boat, Verite, Rock Follies of '77, The Worst Witch, Blue Money, Oliver Twist, Schmoedipus, Napoleon and Love, City Sugar, Will Shakespeare, Video Stars, The Wil Shriner Show, Ligmalion, The Tracey Ullman Show, The Wild West, Big Deals, Later in LA, Earth 2, The Naked Truth, Roseanne, Titanic, and Lexx: The Dark Zone (aka Tales from a Parallel Universe); he hosted Saturday Night Live and The 51st Golden Globe Awards, played the title role in Stephen King's It, and had a recurring role in the series Wiseguy. He played three roles in the HBO "Tales from the Crypt" episode Death of Some Salesmen for which he received Emmy and CableACE nominations.

This fall he appears in his own television series Over the Top on ABC, and can be seen in Doom Runners, a children's sci-fi film, on Nickelodeon and Showtime. He is both author and subject in Roddy McDowall's photography book Double Exposure, Take Four and is one of the actors interviewed in Making it in Hollywood. His voice is featured on many animated series and videos, including Dr. Seuss' Daisy-Head Mayzie, The Marzipan Pig, Abel's Island, Paddington Bear, The Legend of Prince Valiant, The Pirates of Dark Water, Fish Police, Darkwing Duck, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Don Coyote, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Greatest Adventure - Stories from the Bible: The Creation and The Easter Story, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Little Mermaid, Tom and Jerry Kids, Dinosaurs, TailSpin, The Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, Eeek the Cat, Rick Moranis in Gravedale High, Aladdin, Mighty Max, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Batman, Animaniacs, Sonic the Hedgehog, Superhuman Samurai Syber-squad, The New Thunderbirds, Duckman, The Mask, The Mighty Ducks, Bruno the Kid, Jumanji, Adventures from The Book of Virtues, The Story of Santa Claus, Freakazoid, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (release date Nov. 1997) and Peter Pan and the Pirates for which he won an Emmy Award. Mr. Curry has recorded several novels on tape: Cry to Heaven and Taltos by Anne Rice, Jewels by Danielle Steel, The Old Contemptibles, The Man with a Load of Mischief, The Old Silent, The Anodyne Necklace, The Dirty Duck, The Old Fox Deceiv'd, The Horse You Came In On, and Rainbow's End by Martha Grimes, Home Alone 2 by Todd Strasser, The Jolly Postman (recorded with Andrea Martin) by Janet and Allen Ahlberg, Night Over Water and A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett, "Crouch End" and "The Doctor's Case" from Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes volumes I and II, "Little Boy Blue" by Eugene Field in The Silver Lining, Loaded Weapon by Gene Quintano, Foucault's Pendulum and The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco and Anything Considered by Peter Mayle.

A much in-demand artist for CD-ROM productions, he provides the lead voice in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. He also gives voice to Kilrathi Melek in Wing Commander III and reprises his King Chicken role in the new Duckman game. He can be seen in Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster and Muppet Treasure Island and heard in Toonstruck. As the voice of "Sir" he introduces visitors to "Alien Encounter" at Tomorrowland in Walt Disney World. Mr. Curry is also a composer and singer who recorded background vocals on Lewis Furey's eponymous album and Carly Simon's Spy, can be heard on the studio album Little Tramp and on Disney's Music From the Park, toured with his own band, and released Baby Love/Just 14 for Ode and the albums Read My Lips, Fearless, Simplicity, and The Best of Tim Curry on A&M Records. He can soon be heard on the album Sondheim III, the 1996 S.T.A.G.E. Benefit. Fans fortunate enough to be in Los Angeles have seen him giving readings for "The Act of the Poet" sponsored by the Poetry Society of America, and for the "Great Writers Series."