Tony Curtis
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
209
Gender
Male
Birthday
1925-06-03
Day of death
2010-09-29 (85 years old)
Place of Birth
Bronx, New York, USA
Tony Curtis
Biography
Tony Curtis (June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances. Although his early film roles were partly the result of his good looks, by the later half of the 1950's he became a notable and strong screen presence. He began proving himself to be a “fine dramatic actor,” having the range to act in numerous dramatic and comedy roles. In his earliest parts he acted in a string of "mediocre" films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films, and a musical. However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely. He won his first serious recognition as a skilled dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in another drama, The Defiant Ones (1958). Curtis then gave what many believe was his best acting, in a completely different role, the comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). Thomson calls it an "outrageous film," and it was voted the number 1 funniest film in history from a survey done by the American Film Institute. It costarred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder. That was followed by Blake Edwards’ comedy Operation Petticoat (1959) with Cary Grant. They were both “frantic comedies,” and displayed "his impeccable comic timing." He often collaborated with Edwards on later films. His most significant serious part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama The Boston Strangler, which some consider his "last major film role." The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his "chilling portrayal" of serial killer Albert DeSalvo. He gained 30 pounds and had his face "rebuilt" with a false nose to look like the real DeSalvo. Curtis was the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh.
Known For
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
The Graham Norton Show
The One Show
The Johannes B. Kerner Show
Wetten, dass..?
The View
The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Flintstones
Sacrée Soirée
Bambi
The Dick Cavett Show
What's My Line?
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Dinah!
This Is Your Life
The UnXplained
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Steve Allen Show
The Steve Allen Show
The Persuaders!
Vega$
The Oscars
Suddenly Susan
Please Turn the Page
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Hope & Faith
Spartacus
Goldene Kamera
V.I.P. Schaukel
Some Like It Hot
Kings Go Forth
Rosemary's Baby
Inmates: A Love Story
Jerry Lewis - König der Komödianten
The Great Impostor
Bandit: Beauty and the Bandit
Un film et son époque
From Roger Moore with Love
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Black Commando
Bracken's World
Six Bridges to Cross
Captain Newman, M.D.
The Great Race
The Boston Strangler
The Last Tycoon
Louis & Frank
Roseanne
Sweet Smell of Success
Lobster Man from Mars
Magic with the Stars
Hollywood Legenden
Matin Bonheur
Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball
Roger Moore: A Matter of Class
The Square Jungle
Allen in Movieland
Tony Curtis erzählt...
City Across the River
The Count of Monte-Cristo
Taras Bulba
Prime Target
Trapeze
The Legend of Marilyn Monroe
Goodbye Charlie
Operation Petticoat
The Midnight Story
Mister Cory
Winchester '73
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal
The Outsider
Francis
Marilyn Monroe: I Want to Be Loved
The Vikings
Where Is Parsifal?
Talking Pictures
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
Marilyn Monroe: Death of an Icon
The List of Adrian Messenger
Boeing, Boeing
The Rawhide Years
Woman in Hiding
The Defiant Ones
Elvis Meets Nixon
Murder in Three Acts
Reflections of Evil
The Switch
Flesh and Fury
The Celluloid Closet
Sierra
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
The Immortals
The Hollywood Greats
Tarzan in Manhattan
Insignificance
The Users
Johnny Stool Pigeon
The Mirror Crack'd
Paris When It Sizzles
Sextette
The Prince Who Was a Thief
Who Was That Lady?
40 Pounds of Trouble
Norman Jewison, Film Maker
BrainWaves
Kansas Raiders
The Mrs Merton Show
The Mummy Lives
Half Nelson
Sex and the Single Girl
This Morning
A Star Is Born World Premiere
Center of the Web
The Dame Edna Experience
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Midnight
That's Insignificance
Rat Pack
The Persuaders!
The Rat Race
Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box
Mafia Princess
Pepe
So This Is Paris
Rescued from the Closet
The Purple Mask
On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who...
The Perfect Furlough
The Masqueraders
Chamber of Horrors
Beachhead
Shrink Rap
The All American
General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater
Playboy's 25th Anniversary Celebration
Don't Make Waves
Son of Ali Baba
Casanova & Co.
Play It to the Bone
Christmas in Connecticut
Meet Danny Wilson
The Jill & Tony Curtis Story
Title Shot
Club Life
Lepke
The Black Shield of Falworth
The Rosemary Clooney Show
No Room for the Groom
Houdini
Naked in New York
The Lady Gambles
Arrivederci, Baby!
Sporting Chance
Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom
The Passenger – Welcome to Germany
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
Tony Curtis on 'Some Like It Hot'
The Million Dollar Face
Wild and Wonderful
Forbidden
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
Portrait of a Showgirl
Not With My Wife, You Don't!
Balboa
You Can't Win 'Em All
The Last Appointment!
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
McCoy
The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Criss Cross
A Century of Cinema
Hugh Hefner: American Playboy
The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'
The Manitou
Johnny Dark
The Continued Adventures of Reptile Man
Little Miss Marker
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border
Monte Carlo or Bust!
I Was a Shoplifter
Walter and Carlo in America
Banter
Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
Roxanne's Best Christmas Ever
The World's Most Beautiful Girls
It Rained All Night the Day I Left
Sparky's Magic Piano
Mission: Monte Carlo
Nightmare
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
David & Fatima
Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time
An Eye for an Eye
The Re-Inforcer
The Scarlett O'Hara War
Thanksgiving Day
The Third Girl from the Left
People, Hopes, Medals
Death Becomes Me
Come Back Little Shiksa
Miss Glucksman Visits Hollywood
Stargames
London Conspiracy
Fairfax Avenue
Nobody's Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot
Amicalement vôtre : Hollywood au service de sa Majesté
