It is a popular story and I love it, but Tim Curry himself has denied it:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/movies/muppet-treasure-is...

> Curry emphatically denied that interpretation. “I saw the Muppets as actors with distinct personalities,” he said. “It’s astonishing how quickly you see them as people.”

Yeah, I've never understood this observation. The entire shtick of The Muppets was that every celebrity they ever had on the show treated them like real actors and celebrities. Not even "famous Muppets", just straight up celebs.

Watch the actual film at is obvious he isn't doing that. He shows way more emotional range and subtly than a Muppet is capable of, plus "[his] only number" is not very Muppetty either.

I and a fellow clerk at a polling station realized that it would be only 15 minutes to the opening and we were the only ones manning it. he began: " it's astounding, time is fleeting" I joined in "madness takes its toll" we continued to the chorus, some seconds before the opening the other people managed to be there and we had our fun, too

Did you know some company made a Rocky Horror Show videogame in the 80s?

https://www.hardcoregaming101.net/the-rocky-horror-show/

It'd be hilarious if it was just some dude who looked a lot like him and is just so sick and tired of how he can't go anywhere without people thinking he's tim curry

One of the oddities of YouTube comments is the gathering of random people on specific videos for memorable occasions.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal Scene - https://youtu.be/h_bUcNjmuSk

I wonder when is a suitable age to introduce Home Alone to my son…maybe 8 years old is good enough?

He is beyond human sexuality in that. Just the perfect person for that role.

I recall reading that Curry went to the same gym as the actor of Penelope in Criminal Minds and asked her (repeatedly as I recall) if he could get a role. Eventually he got one and delivered as Flynn perhaps the most terrifying unsub in the history of the show to date.

As someone who's exposure to him had been in the vein of Home Alone 2, C & C, Muppets and Ferngully where his portrayal had always had considerable amount of whimsy sillyness to it, seeing him take a seriously terrifying role like that was a wonderful experience.

Finale of season 5 and start of season 6 for those wishing to see for themselves (highly recommend).

Smaller role, but he was brilliant in "Oscar" with Marissa Tomei and some guy who was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 for the screenplay to "Rocky."

Absolutely nobody else could make the word "elocution" sound so luxuriously redolent of desire.

The Colour of Magic! Tim Curry introduced me to Discworld, it’s a shame those movies are so overlooked

Oh my... The clown played an important role in my command & conquer childhood!

Thanks for the reminder!

My wife and I rewatched Congo recently and he was great in that too even through all the goofiness. My wife's also a big fan of the Three Musketeers (that might be the first movie from my childhood I remember him from, come to think of it)

He was brilliant in "Oscar".

(Sorry, just noticed the older sibling comment said the same thing)

Also Congo, where we get the pleasure of hearing Tim Curry repeatedly say “The Hidden City of Zinge”

Hunt for Red October!

Lexx.

I'm the butler, I like to keep the kitchen tidy.

time and again they still play it on the radio in my country, it's still somewhat popular

Legend is amazing and his character is still one of the most impactful practical effects I’ve seen.

I was always happy to hear his voice work in shows as well. Mighty Max and Super Samurai Syber Squad being among my favorite.

He’s fantastic in Clue as well.

Curry would turn up in some strange places.

Less beloved was the 90's sci-show "Earth 2" (also featuring Clancy Brown).

His character in Legend is a core childhood memory for me.

Also his voice role as Hexxus in Fern Gully!

Holy cow never realized it was him, absolutely terrifying for me as a kid

Death comes in threes and they were both 80, could be a party soon

Yeah, when you realize this decade and the next, pretty much everyone you grew up whose entertainment you consumed in the 60s-80s, who was an adult then, is coming up... it's a sobering thought.

Great show!

As posted on Mastodon: “If I see Trump start walking around in Tim Curry’s hat or shoes, there will be trouble. Terrible, retributive trouble.”

When was that? Just went there last year - they technically never stopped the Saturday night shows during the pandemic, so we’d both have watched the same uninterrupted theatrical run…

The full backstory of this clip is a great read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/an-oral-history-of-tim-curry...

Command and Conquer was almost certainly my first exposure to him. I guess it's time to go replay Red Alert 3 and enjoy those cutscenes all over again.

I just love Clue. Understated and the exact opposite in equal measure. Just a great comedic movie, all held together masterfully by Curry.

I rewatch it every few years, still love it.

"No meaning yes!?"

That performance scarred so many of us growing up. It was a rite of passage to watch that movie.

"Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"

Rest in peace, mister Curry (inconceivable that he wasn't knighted).

I would argue that despite the miniseries' setbacks, he is the definitive Pennywise. Better than Skarsgard, who seems to rely on the Kubrick stare.

He was easily my favorite part of that movie. The scene where he preaches his way out of getting The Black Spot lives rent-free in my head:

https://clip.cafe/muppet-treasure-island-1996/but-its-not-hi...

(aside: Someone needs to upload a better-quality version of this to YouTube)

I watched that movie so many times as a child I could probably still recite every line.

RIP Long John Silver!

This is my only number!

Not to take things too off track but I worked at Egghead Software around that time and the looping recording we had on a TV for that game haunts me to this day.

Hayden Panettiere was first I guess

Dammit!

omg that game!!!

i forgot about it.

RIP Tim Curry.

i went to the symphony last year to see the movie Clue. the symphony played the music while the movie played on the big screen above. i’d never seen the movie, he was as amazing as everything else i’d seen him in.

Heaven!

Honestly, even though that's the only thing I've seen Tim Curry in, it's so strong that he has a fond place in my heart just for that performance. Dude knew how ridiculous it was and was having fun, which is a delight. It's hilarious to me watching him try to keep from cracking up in that scene.

Great part, but I can't say I thought much of the movie. A friend was obsessed with it, I could never quite get why (his explanations essentially amounted to the unhelpful "just because!").

It's pretty much the best "devil" character in any movie I've ever seen. Perfectly executed

I remember it well. It definitely has some memorable images in it.

Finding myself in the audience as a young adult and being inculcated into performance art, underground culture, independent film makers and the wonderful weirdos who surrounded me.. All of us wearing pyjamas or petticoats or garters and yelling towards the screen.. What an excellent way to start adulthood, with these ideas of freedom of expression. I hope the traditions continue, and godspeed to Tim Curry.

In the 1970s, a bunch of us would have marathon sessions playing this newfangled game called "Dungeons and Dragons." It was a box set then, AD&D was yet to come. We played in a games club on Yonge Street in Toronto, and just down the street as the kind of sleazy movie theatre that played "Swedish Naturist" movies and any other porn or porn-adjacent films they could get away with.

On Saturdays, we would play until about 11:45, lock the club up, and go to the theatre, where they would show The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight. It was semi-wild. A few people would be there in costume, and lots of people would shout out the most famous lines.

I enjoyed it, and ended up making a minor contribution to the atmosphere: I started brining a water pistol along, and when there was rain in the movie, I'd fire it upwards, waving it randomly so other patrons would get a little sprinkle.

People liked that kind of thing!

This still happens with full shadow-casts and everything. Look around, and look to bigger cities if you're living somewhere out of the way. If there isn't a troupe near you that does this regularly, you may have more luck closer to Halloween.

There’s a small cinema in Paris that still screens 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' once a month; at certain times of the year, there’s even a troupe of amateur actors.

When I went to see it, it was a joyful shambles, with rice, water, ad-libbed lines, and drag queens surfing the audience.

The first time I ever saw Rocky Horror was in a public screening during university, some friends dressed up and as I had no idea what I'd been invited to I was trying to work out why everyone was wearing these big coats

Then we hit the theater and the coats came off and I was trying to work out what the hell I'd got myself into

I'd seen Tim Curry before in Home Alone 2, but seeing him as Frank-N-Furter, strutting his stuff on the screen, that was iconic

What a show, that man knew how to commit

I spent more Friday and Saturday nights at the Tivoli in St. Louis at RHPS showings in my teen years than I can count. Quite literally, I lost track somewhere around 80 showings. (Not all at the Tivoli, but most.)

The first time I went to see it I was 16, I think, and being able to shout at the screen, throw toast and rice, generally just be loud and roudy as a teen, was fantastic.

Finally took my daughter (she's 20) to see it about some months ago during an anniversary screening... I got shushed by somebody two rows ahead for yelling a few lines. Nobody in the theatre knew about audience participation. Still fairly bummed about that. She'll probably never get the full audience participation experience, and that's sad.

RHPS was not my introduction to Tim Curry, though: Clue was. But I didn't put the two together until seeing Clue again after seeing RHPS a few times.

They were great.

Some of the modern criticism of it is rather harsh. The complaints about predatory tropes, and lack of consent miss the whole point.

It is an outlandish piece of fiction, mixed with satire. It's just ment to be ridiculous and fun.

It's why people turned the whole midnight showing into an event. You either got what it was, and went to laugh and have a good time or you were just too stiff and didn't get it. The whole scene was great for suburban queer and gay kids who might not have had another outlet or gathering place.

I was lucky to have experienced it in the 80's and 90's in a few states. The relative homogeny of the crowed across states and venues was shocking. It was always a great way to "find your people" when you went somewhere new.

just a FYI, I am not behind this submission or involved in anyway. I just thought it was curious, and wondered about it.

That and Hexxus in FernGully were my first introductions to him. I knew his voice long before his name or face.

This. Awesome voice acting work.

Hear hear. An alarming amount of people around me have had serious health scares directly caused by manipulation. A friend of a friend was nearly left paraplegic after a sports "straightening" by a well-known local specialist.

A close friend who had an extremely aggressive breast cancer at 35 (and is given to natural cures etc etc) took up acupuncture as a secondary treatment. All well and good until the third session, when the acupuncture people tried to get her to drop out of chemo and radiotherapy to fully commit to their treatments. Alternative medicine as a term should be considered fraud and its more radical practitioners thrown in jail immediately.

Chiropractors are cranks but a normal muscle massage is really unlikely to cause a stroke AFAIK. The risks from Chiros as I understand it involve the big "adjustments" where they go for big pops, particularly in the neck.

Back when I was running seriously I would occassionally turn my ankle on uneven surfaces. A local chiropractor "tested" my ankle alignment and concluded I needed orthotics to line up my hips. I purchased them but the delivered product weighed 3X the weight of my shoes and never fit properly.

After numerous visits to correct the orthotic problem, he referred me to another chiropractor who "specialized" in these kinds of things. That chiropractor's office smelled of incense and reminded me of a place I might use purchase a bong, four-hose houka, or Discwasher vinyl album cleaner.

He entered the "operatory" wearing a robe and proceeded to test my "neural strength" by having me create a loop with my thumb and index finger. His test involved trying to pull my fingers apart. He told me I was weak on the same side as the turned ankle. His solution was dietary and recommended a jar of yeast wafers. One a day while the ankle healed until finished.

Purchased them too.

In the meantime, I discovered an ancient remedy involving frozen water which I applied to the ankle with great effect. I also purchased a new pair of running shoes for a third of the price of an office visit and was able to continue running comfortably.

I'm dealing with a relatively minor but annoying back and neck issue and the number of people that have come out of the woodwork to tell me to go to a chiropractor is kind of shocking.

I need actual physical therapy from someone with a credible degree in sports medicine. It's a relatively common muscular issue that I'm pretty confident can be handled with stretching and strengthening routines but nobody has suggested doing that so far.

> The chiropractor massaged his neck, which released a blot clot that went into his brain and gave him a stroke. […] I'll never let a chiropractor touch me.

This is not chiropractor specific:

> Arterial dissection is well known as a potential cause of stroke in young patients. Vertebral artery dissection occurs most commonly in the setting of minor trauma but has been seen in cases of cervical manipulation. With advances in at-home therapeutic modalities for neck pain came the advent of handheld massage guns. These massage guns have gained considerable popularity in recent years, but their safety for use in the cervical region has not been well studied.

* https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9197740/

> The chiropractor massaged his neck, which released a blot clot

...or possibly caused the issue: https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-paralyzed-chiropractor...

Yeah. Chiropractors are not doctors, whatever their degree mill happens to say.

> I'll never let a chiropractor touch me.

I have no idea why anyone ever does. It was invented before medical science was a thing by a guy with a 5th grade education and has been thoroughly debunked.

edited to remove off topic response

Maybe. I don't have enough context, but maybe that's what he wanted to do? Whatever you may think about it, I'm pretty convinced Ozzy wanted to go out with a big concert. Nobody had to push him to do it.

This year I saw him roll out on his wheelchair and he had the time of his life. Not sure how others felt.

https://old.reddit.com/r/timcurry/comments/1tzyqt6/sf_clue_q...

>"Guy should have been allowed to live the rest of his life in dignity quietly, tending to his garden, not tap dancing for 40+ year old adults still obsessed with "The Time Warp"."

You dont become Tim Curry unless you live for the attention. I highly doubt it was against his will. Shatner is still out there doing the theater circuit right now at nearly 100. Those generations in general (Silents and GIs) just had the mindset of "I'll stop working when I'm dead". It was the later Boomers really that latched onto the concept of retirement.

So your contention is that he would have rather spent the last 14 years of his life alone and quiet, rather than getting out there to have fun and be with people who love him, just because the was left-side paralyzed?