Tony Curtis,the legendary Hollywood performer who was classically handsome and excelled in drama and comedy, has died at the age of 85 in his Las Vegas home. Curtis, who came into this world named Bernard Schwartz but changed it when he became an actor, died in his sleep of cardiac arrest on Wednesday September 29th, 2010.
The leading man appeared in some 150 films and television shows though in the past decade or more his appearances before the camera were rare. He was rumored at the time of his death to be making a film called Morella.
Mr. Curtis will be remembered for many of the productions he appeared in but chief upon the list will be Sweet Smell of Success (1957), the hugely popular Billy Wilder film with Jack Lemmon Some Like it Hot (1959), Spatacus (1960) and The Boston Strangler (1968). His one Oscar nomination came from The Defiant Ones (1958) with Sidney Poitier.
Tragic Childhood for Tony Curtis
The son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants he grew up poor in New York. His childhood was marked by tragedy as his brother Robert and his mother were each diagnosed with schizophrenia. His mother frequently beat her three boys and at eight Bernard and his other brother Julius were sent to live in a state institution. When Bernard was 13 Julius was killed after being hit by a truck.
As a young man he joined the Navy and in the Second World War served on a submarine tender, a small ship that supplies support to submarines. In 1945 his ship, the U.S.S. Proteus, was in Tokyo Bay for the formal surrender of Japan and he watched the proceedings, which were taking place on board the nearby U.S.S. Missouri, with a pair of binoculars.
At the end of the war he began to study acting in New York. Another sailor on his ship, Larry Storch, would go on to an acting career (F Troop) and the two were lifelong friends and appeared in at least one movie together.
Tony Curtis the Father of Jamie Lee Curtis
Curtis was famous for being a Hollywood womanizer and at different times had problems with both drugs and alcohol, though he had cleaned up completely, it seems, by the early 1980's. The box office star was married six times, the first to the equally attractive and talented Janet Leigh, with whom he had two daughters, the actors Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis.
He was not close with them.
Curtis had four other children, two each with his second and third wife. One, a son Nicholas, died in 1994 reportedly of seizures after an overdose of heroin. He and his wife at his death, horse trainer Jill VandenBerg Curtis, had been married since 1998 and operated a ranch together, the Shiloh Horse Rescue and Sanctuary for neglected horses. She was 45 years younger.
Tony Curtis Became Respected Painter
Later in his life, in addition to his work with horses, Curtis had turned to painting and had a number of successful showings and sales of his work. "Painting is more meaningful to me than any performance I've ever given," he once said in interview.
"My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages," his daughter, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, said in a statement.
A memorial service will be held Monday October 4 at 11 a.m. at the Palm Mortuary - Green Valley in Henderson with a reception to follow at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.
Sources:
- The Internet Movie Data Base
- Kehr, Dave; "Tony Curtis, Hollywood Leading Man, Dies at 85." Published Sept. 30 2010, accessed same day; The New York Times
- Tourtellotte, Bob; "Oscar-nominated Tony Curtis dies, age 85." Published Thursday Sept. 30, accessed same day; Reuters News Agency
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