I don’t think there was anything Tim Curry couldn’t do. The formidable British-born performer, who passed away at the age of 80 on August 25, 2026, after over a decade of difficult health struggles, did everything from comedy to drama to stage work to voice roles throughout his career, which spanned nearly six full decades. From his work in the original cast of “Hair” — which led directly to the stage production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (put a pin in that) — to his years on both the big and small screens, Curry was one of the most beloved and recognizable presences in the entertainment industry. Receiving the news of his passing was, to put it lightly, incredibly unwelcome … not just for me as an entertainment writer and film and TV lover who’s long admired his work, but for the world at large.
Ranking Curry’s “best” projects, on some level, feels like a fool’s errand. The guy was good in everything, from voice roles (who else absolutely loved his work as patriarch Nigel in “The Wild Thornberrys”?) to on-stage work in projects like “Amadeus” and “Spamalot” to films like “Addams Family Reunion” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” Throughout his career, Curry won a Daytime Emmy (for outstanding performer in a children’s series for “Peter Pan and the Pirates”) and earned nominations for a Grammy and multiple Tonys. But beyond awards, he was just one of the most admired, exciting, and again, beloved performers in the world. With that in mind, I’m embarking on that fool’s errand and ranking Curry’s five best movie and TV appearances in the wake of his devastating passing.
5. Annie
Early in his film career, true to his roots as a stage performer, Tim Curry did a lot of musicals — and one of his best early entries is the 1982 adaptation of “Annie,” which began its massively successful Broadway run in 1977. At this point, everyone knows the basic story of the titular little orphan Annie, played in this version by Aileen Quinn, who’s toiling away at an orphanage run by the cruel, vindictive Miss Agatha Hannigan (living legend Carol Burnett) before she’s plucked from the fray and chosen to live with the wealthy Oliver Warbucks (Albert Finney) for a week. Oliver, who becomes known as “Daddy” Warbucks, takes a real liking to Annie and her dog Sandy, but Annie is still determined to find her parents.
That’s where Curry’s Rooster Hannigan, the conniving and frankly dumb younger brother to Agatha, comes in. Alongside Agatha, Rooster tries to take advantage of Oliver’s generosity and Annie’s optimism and enlists his girlfriend, Lily St. Regis (Bernadette Peters), to join him and pose as her missing parents. According to the American Film Institute Catalog, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger, and Mickey Rooney were all considered for the role, but with all due respect to those gentleman, nobody could have played this role like Curry, one of the most creative and confident comedic actors of his generation. His Rooster is funny, cruel, and wholly entertaining, and the fact that he shares the screen with icons like Peters and Burnett is the cherry on top.
4. Muppet Treasure Island
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Tim Curry might have failed in his mission to sneak a risqué joke involving Miss Piggy into “Muppet Treasure Island,” but according to a feature in The New York Times in February 2026 celebrating the film’s 30th anniversary, Curry was extraordinarily fond of this film. It’s no surprise why. “Muppet Treasure Island,” which adapted the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel “Treasure Island,” was directed by Brian Henson (son of Jim and Jane), and released in 1996, is one of his most delightful projects. Curry plays Long John Silver, the cook on the vessel Hispaniola who ends up befriending a trio of young friends — Jim Hawkins (Kevin Bishop) and muppets Gonzo and Rizzo — only to try and steal a treasure map in their possession.
In that New York Times article, Henson revealed that the role of Long John Silver was designed around Curry. “I said to the writers, ‘Think Tim Curry. Let’s write a great script, and then let’s see if we can get him to actually play it,'” the director recalled. Thankfully, Curry was fond of Henson and the Muppets franchise and said it “turned out to be the most fun [he’d] ever had on a movie set.”
As the Times notes, a popular meme about Muppets movies joked Curry saw “himself” as a Muppet, but he pushed back on that. “I saw the Muppets as actors with distinct personalities,” Curry mused. “It’s astonishing how quickly you see them as people.” At the end of the day, Curry’s affection for this sweet swashbuckling movie was lovely. “It’s my favorite movie,” Curry told the Times. “I loved doing it, and I hope it plays forever.” So do I.
3. It
Released in 1990 — many, many years before Andy Muschietti’s take on the same story — Tommy Lee Wallace’s two-part “It” miniseries was, for decades, the most well-known and beloved take on Stephen King’s horror novel about a killer clown terrorizing the small town of Derry, Maine. It’s also, incidentally, one of Tim Curry’s best-ever performances … and he leads the project playing that killer clown, Pennywise, who lurks in places like storm drains and lures children to their deaths. In short, Pennywise’s deal is that he’s a trans-dimensional being who appears in Derry every 27 years to wreak havoc on the town’s younger population (and adults, if he’s not too busy), appearing specifically as a clown (though he can also shapeshift).
“It” ostensibly centers on the “Losers Club,” a group of kids in Derry that we follow through childhood and into adulthood as they fervently hope that one of their childhood adventures in the sewers killed Pennywise. It didn’t, and as grown-ups, the Losers have to battle Pennywise yet again … which is only good insofar as it means that we get to see way more of Curry as Pennywise. Curry, usually a friendly and fun presence on screen, is so scary as Pennywise that it is difficult for me, an adult woman, to watch this particular performance. Still, it’s worth it, and you have to respect the fact that Curry went to great lengths to freak out the film’s child actors just to keep them on their toes.
2. Clue
For my money, Tim Curry’s performance in “Clue” is his funniest, which makes it even more remarkable that it only ranks second on this list. (You’ll get it when you see number one.) “Clue,” a box-office flop based on the board game sometimes called “Cluedo,” became a cult classic after its uneventful release in 1985. It was directed by Jonathan Lynn (who also directed the beloved comedy “My Cousin Vinny”), who cast Curry as Wadsworth, an enigmatic and enthusiastic butler who welcomes a series of high-profile government-adjacent folks to his boss’s mansion: Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Mr. Green (Michael McKean), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn). Every single one of them, including Yvette the maid (Colleen Camp), has a secret to hide, and they’ll go to desperate lengths to keep said secrets quiet — including murdering their host, Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving), who was blackmailing all of them.
God, “Clue” is so funny. From the slapstick to this murderer’s row (pun intended) of comedy heavyweights (never forget that Kahn improvised her now-iconic “flames on the side of my face” monologue about her late husband’s mistress), Curry is the standout, even among all of these incredibly talented people. During the movie’s grand finale and across all three of its endings, Curry is, as Wadsworth, delivering one of the most physically intense performances ever committed to film — to the point where he required medical attention. With every ounce of due respect to Curry and his health at the time, his effort was well worth it.
1. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
On one hand, it makes sense that by the time Tim Curry played the role of Dr. Frank-n-Furter in the film adaptation of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” he’d perfected the role; the same part in the original London stage production was written for him by Richard O’Brien. On the other hand, it is insane, in the best possible way, that this was Curry’s feature film debut.
You simply cannot put any other Curry movie at number one on this list. He’s a revelation as Dr. Frank-n-Furter, a pansexual apparent demi-god and dabbling mad scientist who, in front of his unexpected and stranded guests, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon), creates a muscular man named Rocky (Peter Hinwood) after welcoming the couple with a raucous party. Thanks to his performance, Curry has soundtracked more midnight screenings than I can count (it can and probably should be argued that “Rocky Horror” defines the “midnight movie” more than any other film that happens to screen at 12 AM on the dot at any given theater), inspired millions of people to embrace their strangest and wildest selves, and created one of the most unforgettable characters in pop culture history.
Curry loved “Rocky Horror” too, unsurprisingly. As the actor told NPR in 2005, he considered the film to be a “rite of passage” and also called it “a guaranteed weekend party to which you can go with or without a date and probably find one if you don’t have one, and it’s also a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, you know?” Curry continued: “Figure out, help them maybe figure out their own sexuality.” Perfectly put, Mr. Curry. Losing him is terrible, but Dr. Frank-n-Furter will live forever.
