Tim Curry, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Clue Actor, Dead at 80

From there, Curry found himself playing a slew of varied roles across film, television and the stage, including playwright William Shakespeare in the miniseries Will Shakespeare (1978), composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the original Broadway production of Amadeus (1980), con artist Rooster in the musical Annie (1982), Wadsworth—the butler who “buttles” in Clue (1985), the murderous Pennywise in the 1990 TV adaptation of IT and Long John Silver opposite the Muppets in Muppet Treasure Island (1996).

And while many of his characters had a slightly evil bent, Curry was conscious of never playing the same character twice to not only maintain an aura of mystery on screen, but to also remain an enigma in real life. 

“One of the keys is to not encourage an identity,” he explained on CBS Sunday Mornings in 2025. “And I’ve turned to nurse that. I have protected that and continue to.”

It’s a sentiment he reiterated in his autobiography, saying he would not “be dishing out lurid details of my love affairs.”

“I guarantee you, if it matters, that I have experienced true love, true heartbreak, and everything in between, including no small amount of wreckage. Which, naturally, helps inform who I am,” Curry wrote. “I have loved and been loved and I hope you have, too. But I’m not interested in your romances. And specifics about my affairs of the heart or the bedroom are-respectfully-none of your f–king business.”