When it comes to icons of the 1990s, Tim Curry was one of the biggest ones, whether people knew it or not. Whether in film, television, or video games, Curry and his iconic voice and bizarre antics were always somewhere in sight. Since his transition from Broadway to film with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Curry has managed to appear in several works as one of the most notable oddball artists of his era.
Sadly, Curry had a massive stroke in 2012 and has been less involved with the arts as a result, but still occasionally does voice roles. Here are just 10 of the many roles Tim Curry bestowed with his remarkable originality.
Congo
Tim Curry has a penchant for taking part in...some pretty bad projects. Some of them include The Worst Witch, Scary Movie 2, Garfield: A Tale Of Two Kitties, Addams Family Reunion, and many, many more. That being said, Curry consistently was the best part about every one of the bad projects he'd get tied up in.
Among the best known of those is Congo, based on the much more palpable novel by Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park). Curry plays Hermermer Homolka, a Romanian con artist who gets together an expedition to find an ancient lost city. Curry's portrayal is very hammy and pretty ridiculous, and the "stop eating my sesame cake" scene puts Congo as one of the best "so bad it's good" movies of the '90s.
Legend
When it comes to the 1980s, there were a lot of strange fantasy movies, featuring a hit-and-miss level of experimentation with what they could do. The movies star a young Tom Cruise with a ridiculous set of hair (similar to Mission Impossible 2) facing up against the "Lord Of Darkness," played by Curry.
The Lord Of Darkness wants to snuff out the light in the universe (hence his name) and has a thing for slaughtering unicorns. The movie is pretty dark, even by corny 1980s fantasy standards, and it has a director's cut that improves it slightly (typical of Ridley Scott films). But it's really up to Curry to Tim Carry the movie on his shoulders with a great and somewhat disturbing role.
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
The best of the increasingly bad Home Alone sequels were pretty stale in the scenes not featuring Kevin owning burglars left and right. But thankfully, the hotel scenes with Tim Curry as the increasingly unstable concierge manage to get a few giggles.
For a movie that essentially does the same thing as the first one again, it's nice to have Tim Curry bring a refreshing and much-needed presence to the film. And yeah sure, let's get that obvious cameo out of the way. It's pretty neat that director Chris Columbus played that random guy at the Toy Chest store!
Annie
Every time Tm Curry gets to play a slimeball, he clearly loves to roll around in his character's own filth. In Annie, he plays Rooster, the con-artist brother of the film's main antagonist, Miss Hannigan. The two siblings, and Rooster's girlfriend, get to sing a delightfully devilish song called "Easy Street," singing of their decision to rob a little orphan girl.
It's a shame Curry chews up the scenery towards the end of the film and not throughout it, but 'tis better for a movie to have had Curry than never to have had Curry at all.
Muppet Treasure Island
Tim Curry has played a pirate many times in his career, on stage in the Pirates of Penzance, on TV for Pirates of the Plain and Peter Pan & The Pirates, and most recognizably, Muppet Treasure Island. As far as Muppet movies go, Treasure Island is a pretty basic entry.
To be fair, it's hard to follow up The Muppet Christmas Carol, but Tim Curry's role elevates the movie to a higher level. He plays the lead antagonist, Long John Silver, and of course, gets to sing a song. The movie is a silly swashbuckler with a solid amount of antics from Muppets and humans alike.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
FernGully is such a strange movie. It's suiting that Robin Williams and Tim Curry took part in bringing it to life. And oddly, despite Robin Williams having been one of the most wholesome and charismatic men in film, his annoying "Batty" character pales compared to the downright sexy main villain, Hexxus, played by Curry.
It's never too late for a movie about the destruction of the environment. But frankly, Hexxus is just so hot. Who wouldn't be attracted to a toothy-grinned cloud of pollution? He also has the film's best song, so it's easy to want to take his side and just pollute the environment, maybe throw some plastic rings at a sea turtle, chop some trees, slap a couple of penguins. Speaking of penguins, Curry's role in The Pebble and the Penguin deserves a shoutout, another animated film where he was a big hunk and had the best song.
The Wild Thornberrys
Out of all of Tim Curry's numerous voice-over roles, his role as the Nigel Thornberry is arguably his most iconic. Nigel Thornberry is everything a patriarchial figure should be: warm, intelligent, goofy, and constantly making unintelligible grunts.
Though Tim Curry is actually British, he turns up his natural accent to 11 and in doing so created one of the most meme-able Nickelodeon icons of the late '90s/early 2000s era. Impressively, he actually captured the tone that many of the nature activists on TV had, and Nigel feels like a genuine human being a person could run into in real life despite being a cartoon.
Clue
Clue was the Knives Out of the 1980s. Based on the board game of the same name, Clue is a whodunnit that has Tim Curry in yes, the butler role. The movie had 3 endings upon release, so audiences couldn't spoil the ending, or could go multiple times with a different outcome.
Curry is delightfully energetic in the film, leading the cast around as he literally runs around the set frantically. A remake starring Ryan Reynolds is in the works, and though it could very likely be just as good or better, Tim Curry's performance leaves mighty big shoes to fill.
IT
One of the reasons the 2017 IT remake was such a box office smash was that the legacy of Tim Curry's role in the 1990 miniseries achieved a sacred spot in pop culture. Tim Curry steals the show as Pennywise the Dancing Clown throughout the entire 192-minute runtime.
In the childhood half of the miniseries, he's legitimately creepy and pretty funny. In the adulthood half, he's straight-up hilarious, and the best part of the weaker half. Though Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise is a solid new version of the character for a new generation, he stood on the shoulders of a giant...spider-thing.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Tim Curry's first role is among his most iconic. After being the original Frank-N-Furter on the stage for the London production, Curry would be cast for the 1975 film adaptation in the same role. The role is Tim Curry at his most eccentric, most musically impressive, and sexiest. This breakout role would be the one that got the actor on the map and seal him as one of the greats.
The film itself and especially the role of Frank-N-Furter are notably groundbreaking for the LGBTQ+ community, with the (at time of release) unseen portrayal of gender fluidity. The movie is the epitome of cult classics and has maintained a huge following to the day. In fact, due to its constant limited release, it remains the longest-running movie in cinematic history, running for 40+ years.