Tony Curtis, a classically handsome movie star who earned an Oscar nomination as an escaped convict in Stanley Kramer’s 1958 movie “The Defiant Ones,” but whose public preferred him in comic roles in films like “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and “The Great Race” (1965), died Wednesday of a cardiac arrest in his Las Vegas area home. He was 85.
His death was confirmed by the Clark County coroner, The Associated Press reported.
As a performer, Mr. Curtis drew first and foremost on his startlingly good looks. With his dark, curly hair, worn in a sculptural style later imitated by Elvis Presley, and plucked eyebrows framing pale blue eyes and wide, full lips, Mr. Curtis embodied a new kind of feminized male beauty that came into vogue in the early 1950s. A vigorous heterosexual in his widely publicized (not least by himself) private life, he was often cast in roles that drew on a perceived ambiguity: his full-drag impersonation of a female jazz musician in “Some Like It Hot,” a slave who attracts the interest of a Roman senator (Laurence Olivier) in Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” (1960), a man attracted to a mysterious blond (Debbie Reynolds) who turns out to be the reincarnation of his male best friend in Vincente Minnelli’s “Goodbye Charlie” (1964).
But behind the pretty-boy looks could be found a dramatically potent combination of naked ambition and deep vulnerability….
Truly a loss for all of us. Great actor-Great artist. Thank Tonyfor sharing your gifts.
Intercessor
“Some like it Hot” will ALWAYS be on my list as one of the very best films ever.
He shall be missed.
I really enjoy him in “Operation Petticoat” alongside Cary Grant.
DITTO…….a great film and a great role for a fine actor and gentleman.
Probably best performance as a dramatic actor was the lead in the made for tv “The Boston Strangler”……really had to convince the powers that be that he could do it before he got the part….
But probably the most delicate, nuanced and layered role was “The Great Impostor” as Ferdinand Waldo DeMarra. He let you see the desperation of a person who needed love, acceptance and esteem but who could never believe he deserved it. Maybe he and Fred Demarra shared that in common.
Tony Curtis movies..The Manitou…a must see.
His supporting role in Spartacus was one of his more memorable performances for me. A great loss. May his memory be eternal.
The Vikings – when he stabs Kirk Douglas in the stomach!
Rest in peace, Bernard Schwartz!
I saw him first in Trapeze when I was about 7 years old and loved him immediately. His engaging smile and flashing blue eyes were enchanting!
Something most people will not know: there is a beautiful memorial–a metal tree with hundreds and hundreds of leaves on it in Budapest, Hungary. Each leaf is engraved with the family name of a family that perished in the Holocaust. The simple plaque at the base of the tree reads, “Given in memory of all those Hungarians lost in the Holocaust by Bernard Schwartz.” (AKA Tony Curtis!!!)
Winchester 73 — 50 years ago – a pretty good start