Passing over, not away

Ah, it's Friday once again. In addition to Dolly Parton, actor Tim Curry also died this past week. Not nearly as prominent as Parton, Curry was a tremendous actor. Like many actors of his generation, seeing it as a craft, Curry could act. He had amazing range.

Timothy James Curry (19 April 1946 – 25 August 2026)

Something I learned about Curry upon learning of his death is that his father, James Curry, was a Methodist minister. Beginning with the Second World War, James served as a Royal Navy chaplain. From what I can tell, it looks like he remained as a chaplain for some years after the war ended. As a result, the family, which included Tim's mother Patricia and his sister Judith, moved frequently.

Sadly, James died in 1958 from pneumonia. Tim was only 12 years-old. Prior to his fatal bout of pneumonia, like his son years later, James suffered a debilitating stroke. After his father's death, the family settled in South London.

In addition to enjoying and appreciating Curry's acting, I post this because I am still very surprised at how many prominent English people are children of clergy. Even John Mortimer's great literary character, Horace Rumpole, was the son of a Church of England vicar. Certainly during the time of Tim Curry's upbringing, English Methodists, which are an offshoort of Anglicanism, were very strict and kept things very simple.

Curry's range as an actor is demonstrated by the variety of roles he so successfully played. He rose to prominence in the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I remember driving from Ogden to Salt Lake City as a high school junior (fall of 1982) with my friends Anson and David to see this movie at the Blue Mouse theater. While we enjoyed our experience, let's just say we were not prepared for it!

Tim also played Rooster Hannigan in the 1982 film Annie as well as Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers. Memorably, Curry was cast as Pennywise the clown in the mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's It. In this role, he certainly did nothing to abate anyone's coulrophobia.

Among the roles he played on Broadway: Mozart in Amadeus and Alan Swann in My Favorite Year. Released in 1982, the latter remains a wonderful movie. The movie was adapated into a Broadway musical featuring the same title. In the film, Swann (based on Errol Flynn) was played by Peter O'Toole. Let's not forget that Tim also played Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island. Here's a link to a slightly spicey but very funny video concerning his interaction with Muppets. He did a killer impression of Mick Jagger on Saturday Night Live back in 1981.

Curry was also a world class gardiner and horticulturalist. Published late last year, Curry wrote a critically well-regarded and bestselling memoir: Vagabond. Tim also recorded four albums. He did some musical touring.

As mentioned previously, Curry suffered a debilitating stroke. This occurred in 2012 when he just 66 years-old. He was wheelchair bound from then until his death this past Tuesday. He continued working for several years after his stroke.

Our Friday traditio is a live audio recording of Curry singing "When a Man Loves a Woman" at a club in New York City way back in 1979.

An alternate traditio is Dolly singing a duet with Kenny Rogers: "Islands in the Stream." She and Rogers had a very special friendship. Kenny made no bones about the fact that he loved Dolly. She loved him, but as a friend, committed as she was to her marriage. The way she so warmly takes his hand moves me.