Like so much rice, Tim Curry was once tossed from a midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The incident unfolded just after the movie became a cult hit.
Curry’s brilliance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter is to be celebrated anew when “Rocky Horror” opens at Sphere in March. The great film and stage actor Curry died Tuesday at age 80.
In a March 2005 interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” host Terry Gross asked Curry, “Did you ever go to one of the midnight screenings back in the ’70s, and watch the movie with the people who were reciting along?”
The celebrated actor answered, “(The first time) I had to call the theater because you could never get in. I said, ‘I’m in it, and I’d really love to come and see it and get an eyeful.’ And the operator said, ‘You’re the third Tim Curry to call this week.’”
Curry went anyway.
“So I showed up, and they sort of believed me and took me in. And the word spread rather swiftly, and people were sort of coming up and touching me and running away and giggling. It was a very, very peculiar experience. And then finally, the usherette came and sort of dragged me out of my seat and announced that I was an impostor and threw me out of the theater, which is quite funny, really.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.