The LGBTQIA Media has widely reported the sad passing on of Tim Curry, although as Aussie gay men's magazine DNA notes, Mr Curry was very private and never disclosed his sexuality.

The actor who brought Dr Frank-N-Furter to life, turning a low-budget musical into a vital cultural touchstone for LGBTQIA+ audiences, has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 80. His long-serving manager, Marcia Hurwitz, confirmed the news to Variety Magazine. While no cause of death has been given, Curry had been living with the after-effects of a major stroke since 2012.

From Hair to the Royal Court

Curry's first professional engagement came at the age of 22, in the original London staging of Hair. It was backstage at that production that he encountered Richard O'Brien, who was busy crafting a rock musical featuring a bisexual alien scientist dressed in suspenders and pearls. O'Brien, who identifies as "third gender" and has openly discussed his use of oestrogen, was searching for a leading man entirely unburdened by self-consciousness. Curry performed Little Richard's Tutti Frutti at his audition and was handed the part immediately.

He occupied the role of Frank-N-Furter at the Royal Court from 1973, before reprising it for the 1975 film adaptation - his debut on the big screen. For countless viewers, he represented the first camp, cross-dressing, openly bisexual figure they had ever encountered in cinema, and the rare instance of the outsider taking centre stage rather than serving as the joke.

The film was shaped by Jim Sharman, the Sydney director who had helmed the original 1973 Royal Court production with O'Brien before co-writing and directing the movie. Sharman brought the show to Australia in April 1974, where a Glebe season ran for three and a half years, featuring Reg Livermore as a Frank modelled on Bette Davis at her Baby Jane worst.

Decades of Scene-Stealing

In the four decades that followed, Curry made a habit of walking away with films, invariably cast as the villain. His roles included Rooster in Annie, the quick-tongued butler Wadsworth in Clue, and Darkness in Legend - a part requiring five and a half hours of prosthetic makeup daily. He frightened a generation as Pennywise in the 1990 television version of "It", took on Cardinal Richelieu in "The Three Musketeers", and shared the screen with Miss Piggy as Long John Silver in "Muppet Treasure Island". His stage work earned three Tony nominations, for "Amadeus", "My Favorite Year" and "Spamalot". Younger audiences recognised his voice as Nigel Thornberry and as the pollution demon Hexxus in FernGully. When the stroke in 2012 impaired his mobility and altered his speech, he transitioned seamlessly into voice roles and audiobooks, including Dracula and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. His career ultimately spanned more than 100 on-screen credits.

A Private Life, A Public Legacy

Curry never married, had no children, and for over half a century declined all questions about his own sexuality. He deliberately kept this aspect of his life out of his 2025 memoir, Vagabond. He told The New Yorker last October: "My romantic life is none of anybody's business." The book echoes that sentiment: "I have loved and been loved. The rest is none of your business." The most he would offer was a wry comment on the era that defined him. Asked whether he lived anything like Frank away from the stage, he admitted he "wasn't lonely" and that "it wasn't too difficult to get laid", adding, "it was the '70s".

What he was always ready to discuss was the impact the show had on others. He told NPR in 2005: "It's a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, maybe help them figure out their own sexuality." The letters he received proved the point, with many writing: "Thanks for helping me figure out who I was." Midnight screenings began at New York's Waverly Theatre in 1976 and have continued without pause. Rocky Horror remains the longest-running theatrical release in film history, still drawing audiences in fishnets who know every line.

Curry lived long enough to see two very different actors take on the role. Laverne Cox played Frank in the 2016 television remake, earning Curry's public praise. Luke Evans, who starred as Frank on Broadway this year, has since shared the letter he sent Curry just weeks before his death, thanking him "for your fearless performance, for creating something so enduring, and for inspiring generations of actors to be a little braver than they thought they could be".

Susan Sarandon, who played Janet opposite him, remembered the person rather than the costume. "What I loved about him most was his heart," she wrote. "Even wheelchair bound he continued to be so sweet and generous with his fans."

Curry consistently argued that the show's famous motto reached beyond romance. He told Entertainment Weekly: "'Don't dream it, be it' is not necessarily limited to your sexuality. I think it applies to whatever you dream to be."