Tim Curry, the English actor celebrated for decades of eccentric and award-winning performances across stage, film, television and video games, has died at age 80. TMZ was first to report his death, and outlets including PC Gamer, GamesRadar+, Polygon and Kotaku say he died late Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles. Kotaku reports that police responded to the home around midnight and that no foul play is suspected.
Curry first gained widespread attention as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, a role he originated on stage in London and Broadway before reprising it in the 1975 film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Polygon notes the film was only a modest success on release but went on to gross more than $170 million as an enduring cult and midnight-movie phenomenon. Sources describe a long list of other memorable roles, including Wadsworth in Clue, Darkness in Legend, Rooster Hannigan in Annie, Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island, Pennywise in the 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's It, and parts in The Hunt for Red October, Home Alone 2, The Shadow, Congo and Addams Family Reunion. He also voiced Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys and, per Polygon, Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
In video games, Curry played the title role in Sierra's Gabriel Knight and Gabriel Knight 3, according to PC Gamer and Kotaku, and voiced characters in Brütal Legend and Dragon Age: Origins. He is especially remembered for playing Premier Anatoly Cherdenko in EA's Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008), where his exuberant delivery of a line about escaping to space, the one place "that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism," became a widely shared meme, as described by PC Gamer, Polygon and Kotaku. PC Gamer notes that in a 1993 "Making of Gabriel Knight" feature, Curry said he welcomed "any new way to infiltrate myself into your minds."
Curry's health declined after he suffered a major stroke in 2012, which left him partially paralyzed, required brain surgery, and affected his short-term memory and mobility, according to PC Gamer, Polygon and Kotaku. Despite this, he continued select performances and appearances, including in the Fox remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, per Kotaku. PC Gamer reports he appeared at a 50th anniversary screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in October 2025 and released a memoir, Vagabond, that same month. In one of his final interviews, cited by PC Gamer, Curry told CBS News he was not afraid of death, saying, "I try to avoid it, as I think we all do. But I suspect that in the end, I will welcome it." GamesRadar+ cites a separate final interview with Entertainment Weekly in which Curry said his "don't dream it be it" philosophy was "not necessarily limited to your sexuality" but applied to "whatever you dream to be."
Kotaku reports that Curry never married and had no children. Outlets including PC Gamer, GamesRadar+, Polygon and Kotaku describe him as a singular performer whose range spanned horror, comedy, musicals and animation, with tributes emphasizing both his flamboyant screen presence and his lasting influence on fans across generations.