All the world’s problems should be resolved with a dance-off.
The first and only time I ever saw Rocky Horror in the theaters was in 1986 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The troupe that acted out the movie at the front of the theater was very good, having had done so many times. We were of course novices. The weirdest thing was theater security searching everyone going in and loudly telling us, “No live animals.” I have no idea what prompted that.
No, you were “virgins”. Did they make you sit in the back row?
(yeah, I saw it a bunch of times in the theater in the 80s)
Dammit! [ heads off to curse like a sailor ]
I love his work, his sense of humor especially.
Looking at my shelves, I’ve got Oscar, The Shadow (small but needed part as bootlicker convert to the villain’s cause), Supernova (part of the 4 movie first season of Lexx as an abandoned virtual self-obsessed poet), Muppet Treasure Island (one of the first movies my now-wife and I saw together when we started moving into the more-than-just-friends direction), RHPS (and the soundtrack on CD) and my personal favorite Legend (theatrical, extended, optional original soundtrack).
I really wanted (points to Legacy Sequel thread) a sequel to Legend, one or two generations later, where as in all fairy tales, there’s a cyclical nature of the good king/queen getting older and lost in their ways, and darkness taking advantage of that. His health wasn’t good then of course, but considering his voice work… a perfect, haunting caress of a whisper of darkness would have been perfect, echoing in the back of the mind of the new generation AND old.
As you can tell, I’m gonna miss him a lot!
[ aside, I -think- RHPS was my first, actually. I was at a local midnight showing (I was 13), with friends much older than I, and my parents did NOT know. I was spared much of the “virgin” harassment as a result, but damn it was fun. I did have to come up with excuses when my parents collected all my wet clothes the next day though… ]
I really liked that film also.
It takes skill to act with Muppets and look natural doing it.
Premier Cherdenko, not Romanov, I got my Red Alert 2 mixed up with my Red Alert 3
My first encounter with Tim Curry’s work was going to see Rocky Horror at midnight shows near the WashU campus (the Varsity?). This was in the early 80s. Frank-N-Furter was an absolutely indelible character, but what really stuck with me was the Curry music video of “I Do the Rock” they showed before RHPS. I often have flashes of memory of everyone lining up in the aisles, hands on the shoulders of the person in front, dancing/jumping around the theater in time to the chorus. Tremendous fun.
I hadn’t listened to the song in decades until today. It’s kind of a proto version of songs like “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, with talk-singing a bunch of pop cultural and political references and an ear-worm of a hook. His delivery includes some caricatured accents that don’t hold up that well, but it’s still a great song. Not sure what this says about me except that I am of a very particular age :).
On the one-two punch of Dolly and Curry, my wife said “What a terrible day for the drag community.” Ain’t that the truth.
May his memory be a blessing to us all. RIP
He did fake Russians well. He was always fun to watch, even in smaller roles. (Congo, The Hunt for Red October, The Shadow.)
He was even fun playing Cardinal Richelieu like he was in a Can-You-Top-THIS! competition.
If you can find it, watch the SNL episode he hosted in the 70s. Meatloaf was the musical guest. But for me, the highlight was Curry singing what I assume was an old English music hall number called “The Zucchini Song”.
I feel like only Michael Cane did it better.
I never went that far, but Clue was one of the few movies my brother and I had on VHS - taped off the TV. We watched it over and over as well!
I’ve watched it a few times as an adult (my boyfriend had never seen it!) and it still holds up. Strong acting and comedy all around!
At one point, I could quote it from start to finish, or at least darn close.
Very sorry to hear of his passing.
I knew of RHPS from early on but have never actually seen it, I must admit. When I was in London in Fall 1985 for a semester abroad, however, I had the chance to see him onstage in a revival of the William Congreve comedy Love for Love. He was absolutely brilliant as Tattle, a vain fop - I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder at a play. Clue came out not long afterwards and he was great in that, too, of course, as he was in virtually everything he did.
May he rest in peace.
He was one of the actors who played a recurring character on my favorite TV show, Monk. He was one of the Dale the Whales.
Last week I watched one of his Monk episodes and was thinking about what other actors was at least a recurring character in one of my very top TV shows and a character in one of my very top movies (Clue for him). He was one of only three.
First Dolly and now Tim? I may actually cry like a bitch! Good night you sweet transvestite from Transylvania.
I saw Spamalot on Broadway. Unfortunately it was a performance that Tim Curry had to take off and we saw the understudy. Had to be happy with seeing David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria and Sara Ramirez.
Same! 
I saw RHPS first run in a theater. And that was my first Tim Curry exposure, as well. It made me think he was a quite tall man for a long time.
He was wonderfully versatile and always greatly entertaining. I’ll miss him for sure.
I read somewhere that this was one of his favorite roles.