Hollywood legend Tony Curtis dies at 85

[Turborama]

Source: MSNBC

Oscar-nominated actor Tony Curtis has died at age 85, Entertainment Tonight reported Thursday.

Entertainment Tonight said a representative for the actor's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, confirmed the death but did not provide further details.

Curtis appeared in Billy Wilder's "Some Like It Hot" with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, and received an Oscar nomination in 1959 for "The Defiant Ones," in which he starred with Sidney Poitier.

Born Bernard Schwartz in New York City on June 3, 1925, Curtis grew up in the city's Bronx section.

Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39433821/ns/today-entertainment/

---

RIP Tony, a seriously cool dude and one of the last TRUE legends.


Tony Curtis in 1952. Curtis starred in more than 140 Hollywood movies.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis

[BumRushDaShow]

1. R.I.P.

Such a prolific actor. He will be sorely missed. I am a fan of Jamie and wish her and her siblings and rest of his family well.

R.I,P. Mr. Curtis.

[t0dd]

2. Tony Curtis dies aged 85

Source: The Guardian

Tony Curtis, one of the last great stars of Hollywood's golden age, died yesterday aged 85. The death was confirmed by a representative of his actor daughter Jamie Lee Curtis, although further details have yet to emerge. Curtis's health had been failing for a number of years and he went to hospital in July after suffering an asthma attack

Appearing on stage at the Guardian BFI Southbank interview in 2008, Curtis was asked by an audience member what he would like to have written on his gravestone. "Nobody's perfect," he quipped, quoting the final line of his best-loved comedy, Some Like it Hot.

He was born humble Bernard Schwartz, to Hungarian immigrant parents in the Bronx and grew up dreaming of stardom and idolising the casual, easy grace of Cary Grant. Marketed as prime 1950s beefcake by Hollywood, he brought a pulchritudinous dash to a rash of substandard studio pictures before winning plaudits for his role as a venal press agent in the 1957 drama The Sweet Smell of Success. The following year he gained his only Oscar nomination for his turn opposite Sidney Poitier in the tense racial parable The Defiant Ones.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/sep/30/tony-curtis-dies-some-like-it-hot

[independent_voter]

44. ..

[Dennis Donovan]

3. A cool actor - cross gently, Tony....

:(

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. RIP.... great movies and a great actor

I loved most of his films growing up.

[t0dd]

5. K&R.. we lost two legends this week

RIP to Tony and Gloria Stuart

[charlie and algernon]

20. and Greg Giraldo's death completes the Hollywood rule of three

:-(

[frazzled]

21. You forgot the biggest: Arthur Penn

Obit in today's NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/movies/30penn.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries

[t0dd]

6. Who's left from Hollywood's Golden Age?

Kirk Douglas, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Temple, Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Joan Fontaine, Olivia de Havilland... not too many :(

[devilgrrl]

24. Eve St. Marie, Celest Holm, Eli Wallach

eom

[itsrobert]

34. Shirley Jones? Debbie Reynolds? Jane Russell? Jerry Lewis?

?

[Tunkamerica]

7. Oscar-nominated actor Tony Curtis dies:

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.reuters.com/oscarnominated-actor-tony-curtis-dies-report-reuters


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tony Curtis, whose good looks made him a Hollywood star well before he became an accomplished actor in movies such as "The Sweet Smell of Success" and "Some Like It Hot," died at his home in Nevada, ABC News reported on Thursday. He was 85.

Curtis, one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1950s and one of Hollywood's busiest playboys during that time, died in bed at midnight in Henderson, Nevada, ABC said, citing his business manager and family spokesman, Preston Ahearn.

[Demeter]

8. A Productive and Memorable Life. Farewell!

[meowomon]

9. RIP to the legend

Some Like It Hot is one of my favorite movies of all times. God bless him and his family.

[Turbineguy]

10. Carve your intitials

in the Sweetheart Tree.

[bdamomma]

40. oh wasn't that movie The Great Race?

that was really funny.

[1776Forever]

11. Tony was a great actor and man! Blessings to his family & friends.

Tony Curtis, Hollywood Icon, Dies at 85
By DAVE KEHR
Published: September 30, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/movies/01curtis.html


Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Tony Curtis with his wife Janet Leigh in 1961

Tony Curtis, a classically handsome movie star who earned an Oscar nomination as an escaped convict in Stanley Kramer’s 1958 movie “The Defiant Ones,” but whose public preferred him in comic roles in films like “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and “The Great Race” (1965), died Wednesday of a cardiac arrest in his Las Vegas area home. He was 85.

......As a performer, Mr. Curtis drew first and foremost on his startlingly good looks. With his dark, curly hair, worn in a sculptural style later imitated by Elvis Presley, and plucked eyebrows framing pale blue eyes and wide, full lips, Mr. Curtis embodied a new kind of feminized male beauty that came into vogue in the early 1950s. A vigorous heterosexual in his widely publicized (not least by himself) private life, he was often cast in roles that drew on a perceived ambiguity: his full-drag impersonation of a female jazz musician in “Some Like It Hot,” a slave who attracts the interest of a Roman senator (Laurence Olivier) in Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” (1960), a man attracted to a mysterious blond (Debbie Reynolds) who turns out to be the reincarnation of his male best friend in Vincente Minnelli’s “Goodbye Charlie” (1964).....

In addition to his wife, Mr. Curtis is survived by Kelly Lee Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis, his two daughters with Janet Leigh; Alexandra Curtis and Allegra Curtis, his two daughters with Christine Kaufmann; and a son, Benjamin Curtis, with Leslie Allen. A second son with Ms. Allen, Nicholas Curtis, died in 1994 of a drug overdose.

..........

Tony you were an American Dream in more than one way!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

12. Jamie Lee looks just like him. R.I.P. Great, underrated actor! n/t

[liberal N proud]

13. RIP Tony Bernard Schwartz

Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx on June 3, 1925, the son of Hungarian Jews who had emigrated to the United States after World War I. His father, Manny Schwartz, had yearned to be an actor, but work was hard to find with his heavy accent. He settled for tailoring jobs, moving the family repeatedly as he sought work.

"I was always the new kid on the block, so I got beat up by the other kids," Curtis recalled in 1959. "I had to figure a way to avoid getting my nose broken. So I became the crazy new kid on the block."

His childhood sounded rough.

[WolverineDG]

30. there's a part in Operation Petticoat that I bet is autobiographical

where he talks about growing up in a place called "Noah's Ark."

dg

[elocs]

35. In the short lived tv series "The Persuaders"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066701/

there is a scene where Tony Curtis has gotten out of the shower with a towel around him, going to answer the door. On the way the phone rings and when he answers it he says, "No, this is not Bernard Schwartz!"

He costarred in that series with Roger Moore and it was my favorite at the time and so I jinxed it. The series, from 1971, is available from Netflix but not streaming.

[Gregorian]

55. I loved The Persuaders.

It's one of my fondest memories in life. I kid you not. It was just so brilliant. So nostalgic.

[badgerpup]

14. This makes me sad...

:cry:

One of my late father's all-time top favorite movies was The Great Race with Tony Curtis as 'The Great Leslie' (hero), Jack Lemmon as 'Professor Fate' (villain) and Natalie Wood as the emancipated-and-lovely love interest (whose name I cannot recall :blush:).

Now Dad gets to tell Tony how much he loved that movie in person...so to speak.

RIP, Tony. You were one of the true Greats...:applause:

[Archae]

16. I have that movie on DVD.

It is a real hoot.

[redwitch]

17. I love that movie!

I remember going to see it, one of the greatest pie fights ever!

[dflprincess]

57. That movie is still a bone of contention between my friend & her brother

he had already seen the movie and, as she was going out the door to go see it, he told her the ending.

Every so often she still attacks him for that.

[Mad_Dem_X]

15. Sad news...may he rest in peace. n/t

[rpannier]

18. one of the last TRUE legends

How very true

[Bluenorthwest]

19. Bon voyage Tony...

[onehandle]

22. Wait... Brad Pitt isn't a 'true legend?'

All the legendary ones are leaving us. Even character actors are few and far between.

Hollywood was grooming Megan Fox to be the next big thing, but we aren't that stupid.

I digress...

Thanks for a lot of great cinematic memories, Tony.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GIchwvJ-aNk/SnI-vnhBGwI/AAAAAAAAKOE/2hrckrU20ik/s800/The+Great+Race+movie+poster.jpg

[slackmaster]

23. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

RIP, Mr. Schwartz.

[Jester Messiah]

25. NPR shared a quote of his that I think is going to stick with me.

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your time on this planet."

RIP to a good fellow.

[closeupready]

26. I'll never forgive him for his comments on Brokeback Mountain.

Though I feel really bad for Jamie Lee Curtis, as I just love her.

Nobody is perfect, and I'm certainly not.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

27. My condolences to all his family. May he rest in peace.

:grouphug:

[LibDemAlways]

28. I saw him at a Los Angeles shopping mall about 20 years ago. He

looked every inch the movie star - just stood out with silver hair and good looks.

He could be funny as hell on the screen. RIP, Tony.

[Alameda]

52. I sat next to him @ Katz Deli in NY in the Lower East Side 20 years ago

He was so handsome, and nice to the wait persons. He was more handsome in person than on screen. RIP Tony

[WolverineDG]

29. Sorry to hear that

I loved him in "Some Like It Hot" & "Operation Petticoat."

dg

[zonkers]

31. Some Like it Hot, Sweet Smell of Success, two of my faves. He was a man of his times for sure. He

exemplified that post war east coast fifties street wise cool. Definitely a cultural icon.

[valerief]

53. Don't forget The Rat Race with Debbie Reynolds. nt

[nolabear]

32. Good night, Josephine. RIP.

[SidDithers]

33. On the 50th Anniversary of The Flintstones...

RIP Stoney



Sid

[Lindsey]

36. A true legend. May he RIP; and he helped give us Jamie Lee n/t

[Gidney N Cloyd]

47. He and Cary Granite were great together in Operation Petticoat.

[Uncle Joe]

37. RIP Bernard Schwartz/Tony Curtis

Thanks for the thread, Turborama.

[bdamomma]

38. .....................

two greats are gone Tony Curtis and Eddy Fisher. RIP

[sarge43]

39. Peaceful passage, Mr Curtis

Thanks for many entertaining hours. You did good.

Re The Vikings: Anyone who could hold his own on screen with Kirk Douglas was no mean actor.

[bikebloke]

42. And he beat Kirk Douglas in a sword fight.

With only one hand.

[sarge43]

43. And got the girl. Threefer.

I love that flick - a lot of fun.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

41. RIP.

[Submariner]

45. Operation Petticoat

Part of the reason I joined the sub service was from Tony Curtis's character in that movie. The boat navy was almost as crazy as that depicted in the movie.



RIP Tony.

[wisteria]

46. RIP. I always enjoyed his work. n/t

[Paper Roses]

48. The idols of my youth are going, Tony Curtis was one of them.

I remember taping his pictures from Photoplay Magazine to my bedroom walls along with Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner& Natalie Wood.

There were so many of the 1950's and 1960's who have left a lasting impression on all of us of that era.

RIP, Tony Curtis

[KansDem]

49. "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957)

One of his best.

It was a movie made by Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, and quite innovative at the time. I read Lancaster's biography--it told of how this production company used to make commercially-safe films, like "Run Silent, Run Deep" and use the proceeds for more-innovative movies, like "Sweet Smell of Success"

Its plot would fit quite well into today's media culture.

Highly recommended...

RIP, Mr. Curtis...you will be sorely missed...:(

[El Supremo]

50. Ira Hayes

[CLANG]

51. RIP Bernie

[defendandprotect]

54. Tony had a great sense of humor which I think Jamie Lee inherited ... A Fish Called Wanda...!!

Some Like It Hot is a masterpiece ---

but he's been in some other really great movies, as well --

The Defiant Ones -- Sweet Smell of Success -- etal --


Also, Tony has done some wonderful paintings -- only seen them on TV, actually.

But beautiful, IMO.

[lunatica]

56. Rest in peace Tony

Your life made a difference. I love you in Some Like It Hot, and in every other movie you made, and I love your daughter.

[ooglymoogly]

58. self delete

[ooglymoogly]

60. My heartfelt Condolences to Jaimie Lee.

[flyarm]

59. RIP Tony, you gave me a lifetime of entertainment and heartfelt condolences to his family! n/t

[Desertrose]

61. You will be much missed, Tony. The man had THE most beautiful eyes....

Loved his sense of humor...OMG...he provided so much enjoyment over the years...

RIP, Tony. :)

[Tripmann]

62. R.I.P to a legend. I'll have to dig out some like it hot for a watch

[elocs]

63. In the early 1970s Curtis was doing anti-smoking ads for the American Cancer Society.

Then, he got busted for possession of marijuana. So much for the anti-smoking PSAs.

But it did lead to a funny poster of Tony Curtis from "The Great Impostor" where he is in uniform posing as a doctor in the Royal Canadian Navy. He is standing up straight and saluting and the captions reads: I Almost Quit!

[Taverner]

64. Am I the only one who first thought "He was alive?"

Rest in Peace Mr Curtis!

[Beaverhausen]

65. I happened to have spoken with him on the phone a few months ago

I work at a big studio and he called us about his royalties. He was really sweet and sounded good. I gushed a bit about having rewatched "some like it hot" recently - that is the best comedy ever.

RIP Tony and thanks for the laughs!

[Taverner]

66. Some like it hot was a classic!

hell - Curtis, Lemmon, Monroe and - who cares! That's already a wicked sick cast!

[Beaverhausen]

67. they were all great. Marilyn was really good, and never more beautiful

I'm really so sad. :cry:

[Taverner]

68. She (Marylin) was Botticelli's Venus

Had a raw sex appeal that goes back to the hippocampus!

[Vidar]

69. RIP Tony.