Like God, whose minister he potrays in the wedding of Ralph and Betty Hapschatt, Tim Curry in the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter has the ability to create life itself. But the mad scientist has made his discovery by accident. His is the underbelly, the dark side of creation:and it should come as no surprise to us when he suffers satanic ruin.
Before he dies, however, Frank is the joy of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. All of the film's early scenes are directed toward his entrance: every character in the movie responds to him principally: and the picture is virtually over when his life ends.
In a simple, stylized manner, Frank is a study in contrasts. He is a ruthless master who has no qualms about commiting murder, whipping his supposedly "faithful handyman" for an apparently slight infraction, serving Dr. Scott's roated nephew to him for dinner, or seducing both a male and a female virgin in a single night. Yet, it is he who engages our affections when he is triumphant, and our sympathies when he faces disaster. As a sweet transvestite with a penchant for muscle-men, he is as macho as John Wayne ever was. He is the richly charactered magus who dies for our imagined sins, and redeems our fantasies as he lives out for hidden dreams.
Like any hero-villian of mythic proportions, Frank has his blind spot: In his monumental egotism he mistakes his true enemy. Whatever their past relationship may be-and a dire, competitive one is suggested-Frank is wrongly suspicious of Dr. Scott, while his trusted servant, Riff Raf, hovers in the background, biding time until his coup can take place. His lifestyle is "too extreme" according to Riff Raff. There is no forgiveness for Frank and his fondest illusions must come to nothing. He fails not because of his ignorance, but because he is overtaken by his own talents.
But along the way he reminds us of our possibilities and leads us in the movie's anthem, exhorting us, "Don't dream it-be it." For his willingness to live out his own dreams, we love him. And it is Frank, more than any other character, that we return to the theater again and again to see. And, in our hopeful way, to be.
The role of Frank-N-Furter was Tim Curry's first screen performance. Born in Cheshire, England, in 1946, the son of a Methodist minister, he studied drama and English at Cambridge and at Birmingham University, from which he graduated with combined honors. His first professional success was in the London production of Hair, where he appeared for fifteen months, from 1968 to early1970, followed by more study and work in the Royal Court and Glascow Civic Repertory companies. In the course of his experience, Tim has sung opera at Saldler Wells, played in a variety of British theatrical productions, in cluding Galileo, Danton's Death, The Sport Of My Mad Mother and the Royal Shakespeare Company's After Haggerty, and appeared in a number of acclaimed British television specials, among them the BBC's 1975 Christmas show, a Victorian satire called Three Men In A Boat. In 1979 he appeared in a British television mini-series, the The Life Of Shakespeare in which he played the title role. That show was originally made for America's ABC, but the network thought it too violent, and it has yet to air in this country.
In June 1973 Tim Curry landed the plum role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the original London production of The Rocky Horror Show, for which he auditioned with a rousing rendition of Little Richard' "Tutti Frutti." He recreated the role of Frank in the Los Angeles and Broadway productions and, of course, in the film. He also appeared on Broadway in Tom Stoppard's play Travesties.
Reviews of his portrayal of Frank have always been literally "mixed." Gregg Kilday of the Los Angeles Times called him "half Auntie Mama, half Bela Lugosi," while Dave Berman of the Santa Monica Outlook described him as "a hybrid of Sophie Tucker and Mick Jagger."
As a performer, Curry says he "would like to be what they call in business a 'triple threat'-to do movies, theater, and records, and to be as widely different in all of them as possible." He has been doing nightclub work recently in slacks, jacket, and tie and his first solo album, Read My Lips, was released in 1978 by A&M Records. His latest album, called Fearless, was released during the summer of 1979.
He also appears as the infamous Mr. Boddy in the movie Clue. A definate two thumbs up flick. I recommend it highly. He can also be seen in Congo and Muppet Treasure Island.