Before He Was Frank-N-Furter, Pennywise, Or A Cartoon Villain — Tim Curry Lied His Way Onto A London Stage

Frank-N-Furter Existed Two Full Years Before The Movie Did

Before Rocky Horror was ever a movie, Tim Curry originated Dr. Frank-N-Furter on a tiny London stage — and he almost played it completely differently. He originally rehearsed the character with a German accent and peroxide blond hair before switching things up entirely.

Clue's Three Endings Left Tim Curry In The Nurse's Office

Clue's gimmick of shipping different endings to different theaters meant Curry had to shoot all three murder-reveal sequences back to back, sprinting through the mansion each time. He later admitted the shoot was so exhausting his blood pressure spiked and he had to see the company nurse afterward.

Pennywise Was Almost WAY More Prosthetic-Heavy

Makeup artist Bart Mixon originally sculpted a much heavier, more prosthetic 'battery acid' version of Pennywise, but Curry pushed for the simpler look because he didn't want to spend hours in the chair. They landed on a process that took about three hours to apply — practically breezy compared to the six-and-a-half hours his Legend makeup once required.

He Was Basically Running His Own Cartoon Villain Universe

Curry's voice was everywhere in '90s and 2000s animation — he was the terrifying Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the excitable monster Ickis on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and the beloved documentarian dad Nigel Thornberry on The Wild Thornberrys for its entire five-season run. He even popped up as a different character in all three Rugrats movies.

Three Tony Nominations, Zero Wins — And He Never Complained

Curry earned Tony nominations for playing Mozart in Amadeus in 1981 (losing to his own co-star Ian McKellen), for the swashbuckling has-been Alan Swann in My Favorite Year in 1993, and for King Arthur in Spamalot in 2005. Three tries, three losses, and somehow still one of the most respected stage résumés of his generation.

His First Professional Job Ever Required A Small Lie

Curry's very first full-time acting gig was as Woof in the original 1968 London production of Hair — and he only got it by claiming he'd already worked professionally and had an Actors' Equity card, neither of which was true. It was on that show that he met a stunt performer named Richard O'Brien, who would go on to write the role that made Curry famous.

The Roles That Got Away Still Haunted Him

Curry was the original choice to voice the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series before producers decided his take was simply too scary for kids and recast Mark Hamill. He also turned down Scar in The Lion King because of scheduling conflicts with Home Alone 2, and later called never even being considered for Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs one of his 'great regrets.'