The movie Tim Curry called the greatest of his career: “I love that”
Tim Curry is known for his character acting turns as gleefully evil villains, but there is always more than a hint of campy humour behind it all.
Most of us probably remember the feeling of watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and whether it made you feel seen for the first time or put you into a state of stunned silence, like staring at a Basquiat painting and trying to figure out what it’s doing to you, chances are, it had an impact.
Now imagine any other male actor taking on the role of Dr Frank-N-Furter, entering the film for the first time in a flowing cape, silver collar, set of black sequined lingerie, and a full face of makeup to sing a number titled ‘Sweet Transvestite’. It was 1975, and the famous names at the time included Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro, and Jack Nicholson, so I’ll give you a moment to ponder the possibilities.
Don’t get me wrong, it would have been a delight to see any of them try to pull this off, but I think we can all agree that none of them had a shred of the imagination, boldness, and, yes, skill to even attempt it, such that there was only one actor who could do it, and the role made him a permanent star.
Not surprisingly, Curry was never destined to be a leading man; he was simply too talented to be forced into one category of performance. Over the years, he’s won over various swathes of the movie-going public with his scene-stealing roles in everything from Annie and Home Alone 2 to The Hunt for Red October and Clue, but of all these appearances, he has a curious personal favourite. In an interview with The Guardian in 2025, Curry revealed that he, like the rest of us, has a soft spot for the Muppets.
“I would love to work with the Muppets again,” the actor said, remembering his time on the set of Muppet Treasure Island in 1996 and that the greatest part of the whole experience was the fact that the puppeteers always stayed in character if the Muppets were on their hands. “I love that,” he said, adding that his favourite of all the characters was Miss Piggy.
The exceedingly loose, musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel Treasure Island saw the Rocky Horror star playing Long John Silver, a velvet-voiced pirate who is up to no good. As usual, Curry managed to be both sinister and seductive, a combination that is perhaps the only throughline to his wildly diverse body of work.
The fact that the actor hasn’t been brought back into the Muppet fold since the ‘90s is a bit irritating. Sure, the franchise can hire anyone they want at this stage (what other series can boast Usher, Toby Jones, Lady Gaga, and Michael Caine), but Curry can do anything.
He could disappear so fully into a new character that no one would remember he’d ever appeared in the franchise, and it’s about time he got a puppet on his hand and actually got to voice one of the cloth-based characters.
