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Tim Curry opened up about the stroke he suffered in 2012, sharing he had no idea anything was wrong until a masseuse suggested he go to the hospital.
The actor, known for his iconic roles in such films as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Clue, Annie, It and Home Alone 2, gave an interview to Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz that aired on CBS Sunday Morning, where he shared the details about that fateful day.
“It was so strange,” he said. “I was actually having a massage, and the guy who was giving me a massage said, ‘I’m worried about you. I think we should call a doctor.’ I felt fine. I had no symptoms I was aware of. I wasn’t in pain.”
Curry found out he’d had a stroke after being admitted to the hospital, and immediately thought about his dad, who’d suffered a fatal stroke when Curry was 10. “I was scared,” he said of his reaction to learning he was following in his dad’s footsteps.
Afterward, Curry had brain surgery and rehabilitation. “I had to learn how to speak again,” he said. “That was very weird. I hated not being able to speak.” In addition, the left side of his face became paralyzed. “My face kind of went sideways,” he said.
Of his role as a mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter, “the sweet transvestite, from Transsexual, Transylvania,” as he so memorably sang in Rocky Horror, Curry said that role helped others who might have been afraid to be different.
“He had a lot of power — Frank. He gave a lot of teenagers permission to be different and i’m very happy that he did have that power,” Curry said.
The actor has a new memoir, Vagabond, but told Mankiewicz he prefers hat some secrets stay secret, so the book isn’t a tell-all. “One of the keys is to not encourage an identity,” he said. “I’ve tried to nurse that. I have protected that and continued to.”
Curry also opened up about his mom, who he believes had bipolar disorder. She exhibited frequent mood swings and could be cruel to her son, Curry said. Despite his success, she “didn’t make much of it,” he said. “She was scared of it. She said to me later that ‘I thought your head was going to grow too big.’ She would have preferred me to operate under the radar.… [But] I never did. I didn’t give a shit about the radar.’”
He also doesn’t wallow in sadness. “I don’t admire self-pity much — another legacy from my mother, I guess,” he said. “It’s one I am thankful for. ‘Why are you so important that we have to pity you?’” he said, laughing.
The actor, now 79, added that he isn’t afraid of dying.
“I don’t fear death. I try to avoid it,” he said, laughing. “I think we all do, but I suspect that in the end, I will welcome it. I think it may be very comforting to go bye-bye, and I want to earn it,” he added with another laugh.
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Kimberly Nordyke
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