Tim Curry, the British actor whose flamboyant portrayal of Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show made him one of cinema's most enduring cult figures, has died at the age of 80. He passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles, according to a statement from his longtime manager, Marcia Hurwitz. No cause of death was given. Curry had spent more than a decade managing the effects of a severe stroke he suffered in 2012, which left him using a wheelchair, though he continued to work until the end — appearing as recently as 2024 in the horror film Stream.

Born in 1946 in Grappenhall, a quiet village in Cheshire in northwest England, Curry studied drama and English literature at Birmingham University before making his way into London's theatre world. His career-defining moment came in 1973, when he headlined the original cast of The Rocky Horror Show at the Royal Court Theatre in London — a campy, genre-bending rock musical written by British-New Zealand writer Richard O'Brien as a tribute to horror films. The show follows an all-American couple who stumble into the eccentric household of Dr Frank-N-Furter, a self-described