Tim Curry Update: How He’s Doing in a Wheelchair

Thirteen years after his stroke, Tim Curry (79) is providing an update on his health. The actor attended a weekend gala in Los Angeles celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In 1975, Curry played Dr. Frank N. Furter in the cult film—a role he had already embodied on the stage in the musical version.

Tim Curry, who has lived in Los Angeles since the late 1980s, rolled onto the Academy Museum stage in a wheelchair. The largely costume-clad attendees greeted him with a standing ovation, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I still can’t walk, so I sit in this dumb wheelchair, and it really limits me,” he said. “Singing and dancing” isn’t something he will be doing in the near future, joked the veteran of musical theater. Then he grew a bit more serious. “I still have severe problems with my left leg,” he reported.

Tim Curry Reveals Details About His Stroke

Curry also shared the day in 2012 when he suffered the stroke. He had just been receiving a massage at the time. The masseur noticed that something was off with his client and insisted on calling an ambulance. “That’s silly,” Tim Curry said at the time. He did not realize he was experiencing a medical problem.

Tim Curry launched his film career in 1975 with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, after having spent years as a stage performer. Since then, the Brit on camera has often been cast in roles that range from offbeat to monstrous, such as the horror clown Pennywise in Stephen King’s It on television.

Since his stroke, Tim Curry has largely stayed out of the limelight on film and TV. One notable exception came in 2016 with the TV movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again. In this remake of the cult classic, he did not reprise Frank N. Furter, but did appear in a small part as the Criminologist, who also serves as the narrator. (spot/cw)