"I still find it quite easy to find my way into a child's imagination. We're all Peter Pan ourselves in some respects. Everybody should keep some grip on childhood, even as a grownup."
Timothy James Curry (born April 19, 1946, in Grappenhall, England) is an English actor and singer. With a handful of exceptions, every character he's ever played is a) evil, b) dead by the end of the film, or c) both. Has played Satan a couple of times, most spectacularly in Ridley Scott's Legend (1985). (And he topped even that with Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the TV miniseries It (1990).) And it'd probably be easier to list the cartoons that he hasn't voiced a villain in.
His first on-screen role was that of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (carrying on from the original stage production), which rather set the tone for his later roles. He even recorded a few rock albums in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the wake of its success, and he's done more than a few musicals since, usually animated ones. He's British, which is also convenient because most of the heroes he plays against have American accents (even in movies such as The Three Musketeers, which is set in France, or FernGully, which is set in an Australian rainforest. Even the goanna in that movie managed to be from South-Central L.A.). He played Captain James Hook in the TV series Peter Pan & the Pirates, a role for which he won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series.
Tim Curry has also done extensive voice work for video games; a memorable (live-action) role is as Premier Anatoly Cherdenko in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, in which he once again plays a Magnificent Evil Deadpan Snarking Bastard... but strangely not a British one, though it doesn't make the role any less effective or awesome.
Sports a Beard of Evil, for convenience.
A little known fact is that Tim Curry was originally cast to be the Joker for Batman: The Animated Series, but was replaced by Mark Hamill. The DVD Commentary stated that Curry was too creepy (keep in mind his performance as Pennywise) and the role was threatening to damage his throat.note He was also the actor chosen to play the Doctor in the 1996 TV movie, but he suggested Paul McGann for the role instead due to a scheduling conflict.
He returned to the forefront for his work in The Wild Thornberrys as Nigel Thornberry (who for once is not an Evil Brit), due to the various memes surrounding the character.
His voice is rather distinctive in the animation roles he's performed
, but not always. Darkwing Duck fans might be surprised to learn that the Spanish (or is it Russian?) accented Taurus Bulba is actually Curry. Nor does his role as Zimbo (the one-legged fly who is often seen around the Snorch) on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, which he, according to an interview, based on an "Argentinian gigolo".
Curry's acting career has slowed down considerably after a near-fatal stroke in 2012 left him wheelchair-bound, with some facial paralysis, and only able to speak slowly and deliberately. Despite his paralysis gradually worsening (though his speech has recovered a bit since then), he's managed to continue acting and make public appearances, most famously as the Criminologist in the 2016 TV movie remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
In person, Tim Curry has appeared in:
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) as Dr. Frank N. Furter.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016) as The Criminologist.
- The Shout (1978) as Robert Graves
- Times Square (1980) Johnny La Guardia
- Annie (1982) as Rooster Hannigan.
- Clue (1985) as Wadsworth aka Mr. Boddy in the 3rd ending.
- Legend (1985) as Darkness.
- The Worst Witch television movie (1986) as the Grand Wizard.
- Wiseguy (1989) as Winston Newquay.
- The Hunt for Red October (1990) as Dr. Yevgeniy Petrov.
- It (1990) as Pennywise.
- It must be noted that as a method actor, Tim Curry stayed in character as Pennywise for much of the shoot, which greatly unnerved many of his fellow actors.
- The Wall - Live in Berlin (1990) as the Prosecutor.
- Oscar (1991) as Dr. Thornton Poole.
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) as Mr. Hector, the Concierge.
- Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) as Mr. Jigsaw.
- The Three Musketeers (1993) as Cardinal Richelieu.
- The Shadow (1994) as Farley Claymore.
- Congo (1995) as Herkermer Homolka.
- Muppet Treasure Island (1996) as Long John Silver.
- Titanic (1996) as Simon Doonan.
- Addams Family Reunion (1998) as Gomez Addams (replacing Raúl Juliá).
- Charlie's Angels (2000) as Roger Corwin.
- Attila (2001) as Emperor Theodosius II.
- Scary Movie 2 (2001) as the Professor.
- Kinsey (2004) as Thurman Rice.
- Bailey's Billion$ (2005) as Caspar Pennington.
- The Colour of Magic (2008) as Trymon.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008) as Premier Anatoly Cherdenko (live-action cutscenes).
- Burke & Hare (2010) as Prof. Alexander Monro.
Tim Curry's voice has appeared in:
- Abel's Island (1989) as Abel.
- Peter Pan & the Pirates (1990-1991) as Captain James Hook.
- Dinosaurs (1990-1994) as Fox Coat, The Devil, Henri and others.
- The Legend of Prince Valiant (1991-1993) as Sir Gawain.
- FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) as Hexxus.
- The Little Mermaid (1992-1994) as the Evil Manta.
- Mighty Max (1993-1994) as Skullmaster.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1994) as King Acorn.
- Gabriel Knight (first and third games) (1993, 1999) as Gabriel.
- Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (1994) as Kilokahn.
- Aladdin: The Series (1994-1995) as Caliph Kapok and Amok Mon-Ra.
- Gargoyles (1994-1996) as Dr. Anton Sevarius.
- Duckman (1994-1997) as recurring villain King Chicken.
- Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1994-1999) as Zimbo.
- Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994) as Melek nar Kiranka.
- The Storykeepers (1995) as Nero.
- Toonstruck (1996) as Count Nefarious.
- Quack Pack (1996) as Moltoc.
- The Story of Santa Claus (1996) as Nostros.
- Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series (1996-1997) as Lord Dragaunus.
- A Christmas Carol (1997) as Ebenezer Scrooge.
- Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) as Maestro Forte.
- Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (1998) as Dr. Gunnar Maelstrom.
- Lavender Castle (1998-2000) as Short Fred Ledd (USA version).
- Voltron: The Third Dimension (1998-2000) as Prince Lotor.
- The Wild Thornberrys (1998-2004) as Nigel Thornberry.
- Xyber 9: New Dawn (1999) as Renard.
- Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost (1999) as Ben Ravencroft.
- Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (1999-2000) as Dr. Neugog.
- Redwall: Mattimeo (2000) as Slagar the Cruel.
- Sacrifice (2000) as Stratos, the god of air.
- Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001) as the Mouse King.
- The Cat Returns (2002) as the Cat King (English dub).
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (2002-2006) as Professor Finbarr Calamitous.
- ChalkZone (2002-2008) as the pumpkin-headed singer Jacko.
- Barbie and the Three Musketeers as Phillipe.
- Dragon Age: Origins (2009) as Arl Rendon Howe.
- Brütal Legend (2009) as Doviculus.
- Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja (2012) as The Sorcerer.
- Young Justice (Starting in Season 2, 2012-2013) as G. Gordon Godfrey/Glorious Godfrey.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2013, Season 6) (replacing Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious; due to recovering from his stroke, he was unable to reprise this role for the final season, which used archived audio of Ian McDiarmid from Revenge of the Sith).
- Over the Garden Wall (2014) as Auntie Whispers, a monstrous good witch.
- Long Drive Home (2017) as the enigmatic radio caller Monster Head.
Tim Curry's characters provide examples of the following tropes:
- Affably Evil: While he's generally known for playing jerks or Faux Affably Evil characters, he did a great job as the charming Anti-Villain John Long Silver in Muppet Treasure Island where he practically oozes charisma.
- Ax-Crazy: Many of the villains he's played can be considered completely and utterly insane. Played painfully (and literally) straight with Dr. Frank N. Furter.
- Bondage Is Bad: His role as Emperor Doviculus in Brütal Legend.
- Casting Gag:
- His guest-star appearance on Will & Grace. Let's see - flirts with the other characters, makes references to cross-dressing, has effeminate traits (the character he plays is named "Marion"), the character's last name begins with the letter "F" (IE: Marion Finster), and he even tries to get one of the characters' fiancee to sleep with him. Now, why does that sound so familiar?
- Likewise, an episode of the short-lived 1997 sitcom Over the Top featured Tim in drag. Keep in mind that this was during the years in which he was still quite reluctant to talk about his role in Rocky Horror.
- The PC and Sega Saturn game Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster brings it full circle by casting him as the character Dr. Frank-N-Furter originally parodied.
- And in an episode of Regular Show, he voiced an evil talking frankfurter.
- His appearance in Phineas and Ferb was partially due to the creators being Rocky Horror fans and having used Richard O'Brien and Barry Bostwick before.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Often gives one of these to show when a character he plays is up to something devious. Interestingly enough, one of his nicknames is "Cheshire Cat". This is greatly downplayed nowadays as the facial paralysis resulting from his near-fatal stroke has made it harder for him to appear more lively.
- Most notable example: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, combined in a Match Cut with a similar smile from the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
- Creator Backlash: For years, he was very reluctant to talk about his role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show due to some not-very-good memories about his more rabid fans. He's more open to talking about it in recent years and reprised the role of Dr. Frank N Furter briefly for a theater skit. He even once told VH-1 that he grew "chubby and plain" in order to escape the fame of the role. It didn't work.
- Creepy Monotone: He's as good at this as he is at its opposite, just check out his role as Auntie Whispers in Over the Garden Wall.
- Deadpan Snarker: Often plays this kind of character.
- Evil Brit: He mostly plays these types of characters.
- Evil Is Hammy: A lot of his villainous roles are quite hammy.
- Surprisingly averted with Arl Howe in Dragon Age: Origins, who is more subtly evil and detestable as opposed to over-the-top.
- Evil Laugh: Is quite fond of them.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Comes with having a baritone voice.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's a master at pairing his near inhuman levels of charisma with sinister intent and sadism just beneath the surface. The results are often terrifying and compelling in roughly equal measure as his performance as Pennywise illustrates.
- Genre Blindness: His character in Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost, Ben Ravencroft, who missed the memo about how Sealed Evil in a Can does not automatically do your bidding just because you freed it.
- Head-Tiltingly Kinky: He plays Doviculus in Brütal Legend, who's basically a kinky version of his role in Legend (1985). Tim Schafer sought him out specifically for this role.
- Humanoid Abomination: His role as Pennywise, and, in turn, one of his most well-known.
- Jerkass: Most of his characters. Even many of the relatively few who aren't actually villains are complete and total jerks.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: His pop albums were never released on compact disk and wouldn't see a digital release until 2020.
- Knight of Cerebus: Many of his villainous roles have darkened the tone on some rather lighthearted works.
- Large Ham: Often overlapping with Evil Is Hammy. Heck, it's probably easier to count the roles that don't fall under this trope.
- Mad Scientist: Has played several over the years. The most well-known being Dr. Calamitous from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron (and, by extension, the Nicktoons Unite! series) and, of course, Dr. Frank N Furter.
- Money, Dear Boy: Much like the late Christopher Lee, Mr. Curry isn't particularly picky about the roles he plays, especially in cartoons, as he's been in hundreds of them. While he usually plays the roles quite well, a great many of these works are not well-known for being very good.
- Monster Clown: His version of Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the miniseries It (1990). Funnily enough, he actually suffers from severe coulrophobia (fear of clowns) in real life, to the point of demanding that he never have to see his own reflection while in make-up.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Accents aren't exactly his strong suit. Then again, why in the world would you hire this man to speak differently in the first place?
- Playing Against Type/Playing with Character Type:
- Happens frequently with his VA work when he plays non-villainous roles. Nigel Thornberry and King Acorn certainly qualify.
- There's his role as "Mr. French", the butler from the 2002 version of Family Affair who's essentially a Deadpan Snarker Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Dr. Thornton Poole from Oscar, who's about as far from Frank as can be. His idea of being forward is complimenting Lisa (Marisa Tomei) on her diction and any innuendos are perfectly innocent. Well, to him, at any rate.
- He also played King Arthur in the original Broadway cast of Spamalot.
- His role as Simon Ferguson in Over the Top. While Simon is a jerk, he's not the villain and does have Hidden Heart of Gold moments.
- In Congo, he plays Herkimer Homolka, a "Romanian philanthropist" who is "Travelink de vorld and doink goot!" The part that's against type? He's a complete wuss.
- Arl Howe is probably one of his most downplayed villainous characters; sure, Howe is a monster in every possible way while still being human, but the portrayal focuses much more on subtlety and less on overt hamminess. Howe is one of the most despicable villains that he's ever played because of it.
- He also played the kind, loving, and compassionate King Acorn on Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM).
- Dr. Petrov in The Hunt for Red October. He first seems kind of weaselly and cowardly, and also quite chatty and goofy, but shows a strong concern for the well-being of the crew. The only thing he really had going against him was the fact that he was a loyalist to the Communist Party and Captain Ramius and the rest of the senior crew were not. As a result, Petrov wasn't let in on Ramius' conspiracy to defect.
- The Jerk with a Heart of Gold hero Gabriel Knight in the first and third games.
- Farley Claymore in The Shadow (1994).
- He originated the role of Mozart in the original Broadway production (but not the earlier London production) of Amadeus.
- And he played a sympathetic disc jockey in Times Square.
- Sir Gawain in The Legend of Prince Valiant.
- In one episode of Phineas and Ferb, he plays Stubbings, the butler. He's more
Lawful Neutral than anything.- Although he did voice a villainous character on a later episode. Subverted when it turns out that he was just Buford and Baljeet in a costume.
- Likewise, Marion Finster on Will & Grace, not evil as much as a Depraved Bisexual.
- Wadsworth in Clue is a bit complex, in that he plays to type... in one of the three endings. In the other two, he isn't really bad, or even that much of a jerk. It all depends on whether he's an FBI agent or a murderer.
- In Young Justice, he plays Talk Show host G. Gordon Godfrey. The character claims on his show that aliens and the Justice League are untrustworthy, but he's not exactly evil. On the other hand, his original comic book counterpart was an alias of Glorious Godfrey, an agent of Darkseid, so this might be subverted in the long run.
- As of Endgame, he is working for Darkseid.
- Melek in Wing Commander is the toady that the villain has around to have someone to talk to for Character Development... until the end of the third game (the first game where Tim Curry voiced him), where he ends up in charge (through no fault of his own) and promptly surrenders.
- Along with playing Big Bad Prince Lotor in Voltron: The Third Dimension, Tim also voices the ghost of good King Alfor.
- He is a Punch-Clock Villain in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but his character is still a smug jerk who seemingly wants to have Kevin arrested, just for the hell of it.
- He plays a Corrupt Corporate Executive in Charlie's Angels (2000), but he turned out to be a Red Herring.
- In Criminal Minds his depiction of Billy Flynn, a prolific Serial Killer. While he's villainous, he's also unpleasant, uneducated, kind of stupid, slovenly, thoroughly repulsive, and utterly terrifying, with none of the cool or sexy aspects usually present in Tim Curry villains.
- In a case of Cross-Dressing Voices, he plays Auntie Whispers in Over the Garden Wall, a low-key Creepy Monotone governess who keeps her charge Lorna constantly at work in order to prevent the man-eating evil spirit possessing Lorna from killing again.
- Played with in his appearance in Psych as Caustic Critic talent show judge Nigel St. Nigel, who is not the villain but is a complete dick.
- Heck, he even played William Shakespeare, of all people!
- Promoted Fanboy: Reportedly, he's a huge Scooby-Doo fan (he appeared in The Witch's Ghost, The Goblin King, and the Night of 100 Frights video game).
- Slasher Smile: He uses these when the Cheshire Cat Grin isn't evil enough. Most notably in the The Rocky Horror Picture Show, right before Frank hacks Eddie to pieces with a pick axe.
- Smug Snake: If he's not one of the above, he's one of these. And he plays them well.
- The Butler Did It: Clue. Subverted in that he's actually the real Mr. Boddy, depending on the ending.
- Villain Song: He's performed several over the years, and he is talented at them:
- "Sweet Transvestite", "I Can Make You a Man", "Planet Schmanet Janet", "Don't Dream It", and "Wild and Untamed Thing" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- "Easy Street" alongside Carol Burnett and Bernadette Peters from Annie
- "Toxic Love" from Ferngully The Last Rainforest
- "Don't Make Me Laugh" from The Pebble and the Penguin
- "Professional Pirate" from Muppet Treasure Island
- "Don't Fall in Love" from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
- "Nick O'Teen" from Ozzy & Drix
- "Just Like Me" from The Little Mermaid (1992)
- "I Wanna Bury You" from ChalkZone
- "Dance For Me" from The Steadfast Tin Soldier
- "Glory Be To Me" from The Story Keepers
- What Could Have Been:
- He was the first choice for the role of the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who: The Movie before the casting of Paul McGann. While he expressed interest in the part as he was open to the idea of portraying a character that wasn't a villain, he turned down the offer due to scheduling commitments to Muppet Treasure Island.
- He was originally chosen to voice the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series before Mark Hamill was cast. However, he was replaced from the role due to him coming down with bronchitis, his voice being too similar to Captain Hook in Peter Pan & the Pirates, and being considered TOO scary for younger viewers. He was also Steven Spielberg's choice for the role in his own version of what eventually became Batman (1989).
- He was offered the part of Scar in The Lion King before the casting of Jeremy Irons. However, he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
- He auditioned for the role of Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit before Christopher Lloyd was cast. However, similar to Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, he was turned down due to being considered too terrifying by Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michael Eisner.
- He was a favorite choice for the role of either Ford Prefect or Zaphod Beeblebrox in earlier attempts to film The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. They narrowed it down to Zaphod due to Tim Curry having too much physical resemblance to David Dixon who had portrayed Ford in the 1981 TV series. By the time the eventual film adaptation got out of DevelopmentHell, he had aged out of consideration for the roles.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: The bizarre Czech-Jamaican voice he sings with in "I Do The Rock."
- His single appearance on Batman Beyond as Mutro Botha has him do what is probably supposed to be a South African Afrikaans accent, but instead he slips repeatedly between French, English, and Australian.
Troper! You've made it to the end of my page. For that, I'm sending you all the indexes of me, but I won't let you have the satisfaction of catching me. I'm escaping to the ONE PLACE THAT HASN'T BEEN CORRUPTED BY TROPES... SPACE!!
