BREAKING: ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ Star Tim Curry Dead at 80: Report

Tim Curry participates in the panel for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” during the Fox Television Critics Association summer press tour on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Rocky Horror Picture Show star Tim Curry has died. The veteran actor was 80.
Curry suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2012 that left him confined to a wheelchair and by 2025 — when the 1975 cult classic film celebrated its 50th anniversary — the star still couldn’t walk, he told People.com.
Curry’s death comes a day after music icon Dolly Parton’s death.
TMZ was first to report Curry’s death.
In addition to his role as “Dr. Frank-N-Furter” in Rocky Horror, Curry had roles in the 1982 classic Annie and 1985’s Clue, along with numerous other projects.
Police responded to Curry’s Los Angeles home late Tuesday, TMZ reported. No foul play was suspected, according to the outlet.
The British native broke into theater in London in the 1960s before his starring turn in Rocky Horror, which was initially considered a failure but later went on to be considered a classic.
He played a “Sweet Transvestite” in Rocky Horror, singing and dancing his way in drag and urging the innocent Brad and Janet, played respectively by Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon to “Come up to the lab…and see what’s on the slab.”
In an October interview with Ben Mankiewicz for CBS’ Sunday Morning, Curry — who boasted a charismatic, booming baritone in his early career — spoke at times haltingly about his father, a Navy chaplain, and recalled the older man’s stroke when the star was just 10-years-old.
“I remember thinking how exactly do I do that?” he said. “It seemed like an awful responsibility for a kid.”
During the segment, Mankiewicz asked Curry about death — and if he was “afraid of it.”
“No,” Curry said.
“I’m not. I don’t fear death,” he said before a long pause. “I try to avoid it, as I think we all do. But I suspect that in the end that I will welcome it. Well, I think it may be very comforting to go bye-bye and I want to earn it.
“I want to earn the privilege of not being here,” he said, adding, “I may well embrace it.”
This is a breaking story and has been updated.
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