I do not make a habit of gracing this page with my presence every time another celebrity has crossed the rainbow bridge, and in fact we just lost one of the brightest lights, Dolly Parton, just one day ago, but I could not let Tim Curry pass from this world to the next adventure without saying a few words. The man had an incredible career. There are 244 credits on imdb that I skimmed this morning after reading the news. Here are just 10 that caught my eye. I’m not going to say these are the best (best is subjective anyway) but they are all standout roles in some way.
Star Wars: Clone Wars – Palpatine
In “today I learned” – while Ian Abercrombie started off voicing Palpatine for the series, Tim Curry voiced him in seasons 5 & 6. It’s been so long since I watched the show I truly don’t remember if I clocked the change in actors between seasons, but I sure did a double take when seeing that entry in his list of credits today. In general he has a wild list of voice credits for a variety of shows. He truly was a wide-ranging talent. Side note: I don’t want to turn this into a Star Wars debate, but this show and Rebels did not get enough love. People assume “animated” means “for kids” and it simply isn’t true. Go give this show a chance and see if you notice when Mr Curry takes over as one of the universe’s biggest baddies.
Dragon Age Origins – Arl Howe
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I have a huge amount of love for Dragon Age as a series. I started with DA2 and was immediately hooked. Imagine how excited I was when I went back to DAO and heard Tim Curry’s voice, even if it was coming from a baddie. My canon run I played a Cousland, so there’s an extra level of “I do not like this man” with that backstory. But it’s still fun to hear his voice in one of my favorite video games.
Spamalot – King Arthur
Taking it to the theater for a moment, he was King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot. Unfortunately he was not in the cast I got to see, but I can only imagine how good he was in the role. Absolutely perfect casting, 10/10, no notes. Just knowing how good he was in a different music we will talk about later, I can only picture how good he was in this as well. If you get a chance to see any version of Spamalot, I do recommend it. There are few things my mom and I can agree on, but we both had a blast seeing this together.
Charlie’s Angels – Roger Corwin
Sometimes you watch a movie a million times when you’re younger and then you forget about it until you’re scrolling through a list and go “oh yeah that was a thing”… This movie was in heavy rotation for me back in the day. I also used to listen to the soundtrack a ton. Thinking about it, this might even technically be the first thing I saw Tim Curry in. Yes, before Muppet Treasure Island. I KNOW RIGHT. I was a late bloomer when it came to all things Muppets. Having said that, it wasn’t that weird to me he was in this but to other people I’m sure it was a big question mark. But I mean, so was Legend, and that has a special place in people’s hearts and minds too. I have to admit I haven’t actually seen it, but I’ve seen it make a ton of posts today as we all remember our favorite movies of his. We haven’t gotten to my two biggest yet because I’m saving the best for last. (Actually this is chronological and it just so happens my two favorites are also the oldest). Moving on…
Muppet Treasure Island – Long John Silver
I made the note about doing this chronological so you wouldn’t stone me for putting this in the middle of my list. Obviously this movie is iconic. My partner and I always watch a movie associated with a person’s work when they die, and this made the short list for when we knew Tim Curry would inevitably go. It’s also one of my favorite Muppet movies. (I think my actual favorite is Muppet Christmas Carol but it’s so hard to choose).
Stephen King’s IT – Pennywise
Let me start by saying I am a huge horror fan. There aren’t many things that get me genuinely terrified, but there isn’t a version of IT that hasn’t had me hiding under the covers. I’m not even scared of clowns! There’s just something about Stephen King’s story that gets me every time, and Curry did a fantastic job as the star scary. After you’ve given this classic another spin, I highly recommend the newer movies and the HBO series Welcome to Derry. Andy Muschietti is doing some good work building out the world. The second season of the show comes out sometime next year. Maybe this year for Halloween you give yourself a little marathon to get ready?
The Hunt for Red October – Dr Petrov
Not much to say about this one other than this cast was stacked and I forgot how many stars were in it until I reminded myself for this article. Go let Sean Connery, Tim Curry, and James Early Jones melt your eardrums (in a good way).
The Worst Witch – The Grand Wizard
I’ve only ever seen this classic once because my partner told me I absolutely had to, and to be fair he was right. This was a gem that was missing in my movie rolodex until he fixed it for me. Just looking at the still I pulled for this piece fills me with joy. I think October is just going to be full of Tim Curry movies at the rate I’m going. He sure did have some magical gems in his collection.
Clue – Wadsworth
Here is where I get sentimental with you, because Clue might be one of two movies in his filmography that mean the most to me. I’m sure all of us have some piece of media we fall back on when we’re having a bad brain day (or just a bad day in general). For me I rotate between two movies – Down Periscope starring Kelsey Grammer and Clue. When I said before that there was a short list of movies I thought about watching when this day came, I was really torn if I should put Clue on that list because I wasn’t sure if it would make me feel better or just make me associate his death with my happy movie. Watching this movie is like the mental equivalent of wrapping myself in a blanket and grabbing my favorite plushie. It’s full of silliness from beginning to end, has one of my most referenced scenes ever (flames, on the side of my face), and also has a fantastic cast. If you somehow missed this one because you thought a movie about a board game was a silly idea, well yes, but a glorious one too! Don’t sleep on this comedic gem that has gotten me through many rough nights.
Rocky Horror Picture Show – Dr Frank-N-Furter
I’m rounding out this lengthy tribute with another favorite of mine – Rocky Horror. I once did a top 5 most iconic queer films list as promo for a Pride show I was running and put Rocky Horror as my #1 pick. It was a tough call between that and “But I’m A Cheerleader” but I just cannot think of any movie that means more to every gay I know than this one does. This movie is queer culture, quite frankly. It’s the reason that between this and Dolly Parton you should really check on your gay friends. We’re simply not thriving right now, sweetie. Please bring us an iced coffee and a box of chocolates to drown our sorrows in.
Thank you for going down this long trip through time with me as we glanced at just a fraction of what this legend did over the span of his career. I hope you pick whatever your favorite movie of his was, let me know what it is in the comments, make a comfort snack, and take care of yourselves.
