5 Greatest Tim Curry Films And TV Reveals, Ranked

I do not suppose there was something Tim Curry could not do. The formidable British-born performer, who handed away on the age of 80 on August 25, 2026, after over a decade of inauspicious well being struggles, did the whole lot from comedy to drama to stage work to voice roles all through his profession, which spanned almost six full many years. From his work within the authentic solid of “Hair” — which led on to the stage manufacturing of “The Rocky Horror Image Present” (put a pin in that) — to his years on each the massive and small screens, Curry was one of the vital beloved and recognizable presences within the leisure business. Receiving the information of his passing was, to place it flippantly, extremely unwelcome … not only for me as an leisure author and movie and TV lover who’s lengthy admired his work, however for the world at massive.

Rating Curry’s “finest” tasks, on some degree, looks like a idiot’s errand. The man was good in the whole lot, from voice roles (who else completely beloved his work as patriarch Nigel in “The Wild Thornberrys”?) to on-stage work in tasks like “Amadeus” and “Spamalot” to movies like “Addams Household Reunion” and “Residence Alone 2: Misplaced in New York.” All through his profession, Curry received a Daytime Emmy (for excellent performer in a kids’s sequence for “Peter Pan and the Pirates”) and earned nominations for a Grammy and a number of Tonys. However past awards, he was simply one of the vital admired, thrilling, and once more, beloved performers on this planet. With that in thoughts, I am embarking on that idiot’s errand and rating Curry’s 5 finest film and TV appearances within the wake of his devastating passing.

Early in his movie profession, true to his roots as a stage performer, Tim Curry did a number of musicals — and one in every of his finest early entries is the 1982 adaptation of “Annie,” which started its massively profitable Broadway run in 1977. At this level, everybody is aware of the essential story of the titular little orphan Annie, performed on this model by Aileen Quinn, who’s toiling away at an orphanage run by the merciless, vindictive Miss Agatha Hannigan (residing legend Carol Burnett) earlier than she’s plucked from the fray and chosen to stay with the rich Oliver Warbucks (Albert Finney) for per week. Oliver, who turns into referred to as “Daddy” Warbucks, takes an actual liking to Annie and her canine Sandy, however Annie remains to be decided to seek out her dad and mom.

That is the place Curry’s Rooster Hannigan, the conniving and albeit dumb youthful brother to Agatha, is available in. Alongside Agatha, Rooster tries to reap the benefits of Oliver’s generosity and Annie’s optimism and enlists his girlfriend, Lily St. Regis (Bernadette Peters), to affix him and pose as her lacking dad and mom. Based on the American Movie Institute Catalog, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger, and Mickey Rooney had been all thought-about for the position, however with all due respect to these gentleman, no one may have performed this position like Curry, one of the vital artistic and assured comedic actors of his era. His Rooster is humorous, merciless, and wholly entertaining, and the truth that he shares the display with icons like Peters and Burnett is the cherry on prime.

Tim Curry may need failed in his mission to sneak a risqué joke involving Miss Piggy into “Muppet Treasure Island,” however in response to a function in The New York Instances in February 2026 celebrating the movie’s thirtieth anniversary, Curry was terribly keen on this movie. It is no shock why. “Muppet Treasure Island,” which tailored the well-known Robert Louis Stevenson novel “Treasure Island,” was directed by Brian Henson (son of Jim and Jane), and launched in 1996, is one in every of his most pleasant tasks. Curry performs Lengthy John Silver, the prepare dinner on the vessel Hispaniola who finally ends up befriending a trio of younger mates — Jim Hawkins (Kevin Bishop) and muppets Gonzo and Rizzo — solely to try to steal a treasure map of their possession.

In that New York Instances article, Henson revealed that the position of Lengthy John Silver was designed round Curry. “I mentioned to the writers, ‘Assume Tim Curry. Let’s write a terrific script, after which let’s examine if we are able to get him to really play it,'” the director recalled. Fortunately, Curry was keen on Henson and the Muppets franchise and mentioned it “turned out to be essentially the most enjoyable [he’d] ever had on a film set.” 

Because the Instances notes, a well-liked meme about Muppets films joked Curry noticed “himself” as a Muppet, however he pushed again on that. “I noticed the Muppets as actors with distinct personalities,” Curry mused. “It is astonishing how rapidly you see them as individuals.” On the finish of the day, Curry’s affection for this candy swashbuckling film was pretty. “It is my favourite film,” Curry instructed the Instances. “I beloved doing it, and I hope it performs ceaselessly.” So do I.

Launched in 1990 — many, a few years earlier than Andy Muschietti’s tackle the identical story — Tommy Lee Wallace’s two-part “It” miniseries was, for many years, essentially the most well-known and beloved tackle Stephen King’s horror novel a couple of killer clown terrorizing the small city of Derry, Maine. It is also, by the way, one in every of Tim Curry’s best-ever performances … and he leads the undertaking taking part in that killer clown, Pennywise, who lurks in locations like storm drains and lures kids to their deaths. Briefly, Pennywise’s deal is that he is a trans-dimensional being who seems in Derry each 27 years to wreak havoc in town’s youthful inhabitants (and adults, if he isn’t too busy), showing particularly as a clown (although he can even shapeshift).

“It” ostensibly facilities on the “Losers Membership,” a gaggle of children in Derry that we observe by childhood and into maturity as they fervently hope that one in every of their childhood adventures within the sewers killed Pennywise. It did not, and as grown-ups, the Losers should battle Pennywise but once more … which is simply good insofar because it signifies that we get to see far more of Curry as Pennywise. Curry, normally a pleasant and enjoyable presence on display, is so scary as Pennywise that it’s troublesome for me, an grownup girl, to observe this specific efficiency. Nonetheless, it is price it, and it’s important to respect the truth that Curry went to nice lengths to freak out the movie’s youngster actors simply to maintain them on their toes.

For my cash, Tim Curry’s efficiency in “Clue” is his funniest, which makes it much more exceptional that it solely ranks second on this checklist. (You will get it if you see primary.) “Clue,” a box-office flop based mostly on the board sport typically known as “Cluedo,” grew to become a cult basic after its uneventful launch in 1985. It was directed by Jonathan Lynn (who additionally directed the beloved comedy “My Cousin Vinny”), who solid Curry as Wadsworth, an enigmatic and enthusiastic butler who welcomes a sequence of high-profile government-adjacent people to his boss’s mansion: Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Mr. Inexperienced (Michael McKean), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn). Each single one in every of them, together with Yvette the maid (Colleen Camp), has a secret to cover, and so they’ll go to determined lengths to maintain mentioned secrets and techniques quiet — together with murdering their host, Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving), who was blackmailing all of them.

God, “Clue” is so humorous. From the slapstick to this assassin’s row (pun supposed) of comedy heavyweights (always remember that Kahn improvised her now-iconic “flames on the aspect of my face” monologue about her late husband’s mistress), Curry is the standout, even amongst all of those extremely proficient individuals. In the course of the film’s grand finale and throughout all three of its endings, Curry is, as Wadsworth, delivering one of the vital bodily intense performances ever dedicated to movie — to the purpose the place he required medical consideration. With each ounce of due respect to Curry and his well being on the time, his effort was nicely price it.

On one hand, it is smart that by the point Tim Curry performed the position of Dr. Frank-n-Furter within the movie adaptation of “The Rocky Horror Image Present,” he’d perfected the position; the identical half within the authentic London stage manufacturing was written for him by Richard O’Brien. However, it’s insane, in the very best method, that this was Curry’s function movie debut. 

You merely can not put every other Curry film at primary on this checklist. He is a revelation as Dr. Frank-n-Furter, a pansexual obvious demi-god and dabbling mad scientist who, in entrance of his surprising and stranded company, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon), creates a muscular man named Rocky (Peter Hinwood) after welcoming the couple with a raucous get together. Because of his efficiency, Curry has soundtracked extra midnight screenings than I can depend (it might probably and doubtless needs to be argued that “Rocky Horror” defines the “midnight film” greater than every other movie that occurs to display at 12 AM on the dot at any given theater), impressed thousands and thousands of individuals to embrace their strangest and wildest selves, and created one of the vital unforgettable characters in popular culture historical past.

Curry beloved “Rocky Horror” too, unsurprisingly. Because the actor instructed NPR in 2005, he thought-about the movie to be a “ceremony of passage” and in addition known as it “a assured weekend get together to which you’ll go together with or with no date and doubtless discover one if you do not have one, and it is also an opportunity for individuals to attempt on a couple of roles for dimension, you already know?” Curry continued: “Determine, assist them possibly work out their very own sexuality.” Completely put, Mr. Curry. Dropping him is horrible, however Dr. Frank-n-Furter will stay ceaselessly.