A LEGIT OBIT - Tim Curry (1946 -2026)

Anyone of my age, may well remember the first time they went to see the film  The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was in Hull on my Foundation Course, and we had an Arts Humanities teacher who dragged us all to see it at the nearby ABC Cinema. This landed as such a revelation to me I went to see it repeatedly more than a dozen times in as many days. I'd lived a sheltered life until that point, and had not really encountered high camp before. I instantly fell in love with it. Central to this infatuation wasTim Curry's performance. When Hubby and I rewatched the film recently to mark Curry's recent passing, I was once again struck by how full on his performance is. As the film was shot so cheaply and rapidly Curry's Frank n Furter comes pretty much straight from being honed to perfection over months in front of a theatre audience. So all the vocal inflections, pointed phrasings, mangling of vowel sounds and breaking of the fourth wall are timed to the minutest second to generate laughs. It is his show, and he is clearly very aware of the viewer out there, sat in a theatre, a cinema or in front of a TV screen. He makes the most of every single scene, and he is pretty much in all of them. One can only imagine how intimidating this must be over fifty years later for a new actor to take on this role. You look at Curry so on fire and try your hardest not to want to just copy everything he does. How would anyone make this role their own, and not end up disappointing?  Though there is no shortage of actors willing to give it a try.

And that ability to make a truly memorable performance that dominates the screen or stage was an ability he used, whatever the part he was playing. He could easily steal the show if he so wished. Using his vocal facilities to the hilt, that strong forceful singing voice, the larger than life stage presence, the expressive face, well this could be hard to contain. Any subsequent filmmaker would never choose him for a small subtle intimate ensemble piece. Curry at his absolute best was not subtle, but neither was he hammy. For when he was allowed to let rip he would produce, out of nowhere, a truly memorable bit of expertly finessed character acting. So there was his pirate turn on the Treasure Island Muppet Movie, playing a demon in the film Legend, and his very creepy version of Pennywise in the adaption of Stephen King's - It. He invariably ended up playing the baddy in films, because this was much more fun. As he did in Clue, and in a truly 'so awful it's good' film Congo. Nothing ever reached quite the cinematic must see pizzazz of Rocky Horror, though he always gave it a try. But then how do you follow Frank n Furter?  Not very easily is the answer. And most of the cast could never quite shake off being known for Rocky Horror, and in some cases, only that film. It defined their entire subsequent career. Curry was not alone in that. But he did have a go. Even after the physically debilitating heart attack, he continued to do a large range of voice overs. Because even unseen, he could still do larger than life, better than anyone.