Tag: RIP

In Memoriam: Thank You Tim Curry

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.

RIP Phillip Seymour Hoffman

I’m sure we all heard the news yesterday as it swept the internet – Phillip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment in the West Village (NYC). He was 46 years old. The cause of death was suspected to be a drug overdose, heroin to be specific. He was found with the needle still in his arm.

I found this out because of several posts about it on Facebook, and it broke my heart. I didn’t know the man personally, and rarely ever get saddened by a famous person’s death, but this one was different for some reason. I’ve seen many of Hoffman’s movies, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most was his award-winning role in Capote. Let me preface this by saying I have had a copy of “In Cold Blood” sitting on my bookshelf for quite some time, but have never gotten around to reading it until recently. It was given to me by a friend who was moving and wanted to have less stuff that needed to be tucked away into boxes. I took it and a couple other items, but never got around to actually reading them.

My second preface in this story is that a lot of the movies I watch have been sitting in my Netflix Instant queue for quite some time before they get viewed. Usually I finally get around to watching them because Netflix is about to take them off Instant. This was the case with Capote. I’m sorry I didn’t watched it sooner, because I believe it is one of the best films I have ever seen in my short little lifetime. This was thanks very largely to Hoffman’s chilling portrayal of the title character. After finishing the movie, I immediately picked up my copy of “In Cold Blood,” and have not been able to put it down since. I also looked up the other works that Hoffman has been in and realized I had seen quite a few of them already without realizing it (or at least without making the connection). Maybe I just never cared who he was until the Oscars, which is a shame because he is brilliant. This is the same reason it was sad to see him die so young. Whether the person is famous or not it’s always said to see a life ended too soon, but it’s even harder when you think about what they could have done with the time that was stolen from them. The fact that it was something like a drug overdose also makes me angry, because that means you let an addiction to a terrible thing control your life. I’m sorry to see him go, and I’m sorry for the reasons.

I had to keep myself off the internet for the rest of the day after hearing the news. This is my first time on in about 24 hours. I needed the time to process everything and also not let it get me down. I still can’t completely wrap my brain around it, but at least I hopefully spit out a coherent post. Sorry if it’s just a bunch of rambles. Equally sorry if it’s a bummer compared to my usually upbeat self, but it’s something I needed to do so I could move on without it hovering over me all day. Now I keep on living with the silent prayer for the family he left behind. They are the ones hurt most by this, and even though it is none of my business and outside of my control, I still am sorry anyone has to go through that, and I hope it gets better soon.