Tim Curry obituary

Actor and singer best known for his roles in The Rocky Horror Show and the 1990 Stephen King TV miniseries It In June 1973, I went to the Royal Court to see one of Edward Bond’s best plays, The Sea. On my way out, I met a colleague who said he had a spare ticket for something called The Rocky Horror Show in the Court’s studio space, the Theatre Upstairs, starting at around 10.30pm. We had no idea what this was going to be about. There was a gantry rigged above us and, astonishingly, suddenly, crawling along it was a frizzy haired chap in fishnet stockings, suspender belt and lurid makeup. This was Tim Curry, as the deranged scientist and debauched sex magnet Dr Frank-N-Furter, introducing himself in song as “just a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania”. Thus was launched Richard O’Brien’s hilarious, addictive glam rock musical that went on to become a cult classic, after moving, with Curry, along the King’s Road to a former cinema, then crossing to Broadway in 1975, and later being performed in productions all around the world. It was adapted for the screen in 1975 as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, directed by Jim Sharman, with Curry reprising his role, and O’Brien app