RIP Tony Curtis
Jimster
Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,955 Posts
85. A good innings, Sir.
Apparently he claims to have invented Hip Hop via making sure Sammy Davis got a fair crack.
Whatever, he was great in The Vikings and had surprisingly broad range.
RIP.
Apparently he claims to have invented Hip Hop via making sure Sammy Davis got a fair crack.
Whatever, he was great in The Vikings and had surprisingly broad range.
RIP.
Comments
Tony Curtis (a/k/a Bernie Schwartz from Brooklyn) made the most redonkulous viking which brought my father endless delight. But that was part of his appeal. He played all those characters with his inescapable Brooklyn accent. He also raised all the money to rebuild Budapests synagogue which may now be the largest in Europe.
Nobody's perfect.
I had just watched this a few weeks ago. Truly was a great actor and his presence made whatever film he was in more enjoyable to watch. Truly an icon on the screen and in most ladies' dreams. Rest well, Tony.
Do you still enjoy making movies as much as ever?
You don???t get tired of that, like you don???t get tired of working, or eating or taking a good-looking woman out and buying a new car. Each day of your life brings new interests and those new interests are stimulated by making movies. Experience doesn???t make you a better actor; experience just gives you another insight to living.
Do you prefer comedy or high drama?
To me there is no difference. Some go quicker, some go slower, some are funny, some are not. I just like the idea that I can step into different kinds of environment. But all of us can do that: be funny when we want, be tragic. It???s a matter of a mindset, I think.
Are you satisfied with all your films?
There isn???t a movie that I???ve made that I didn???t give the best I could. Even when I made films I had to do, to earn money to support my children, it made no difference. And I don???t look back on them saying, ???Well, I could have done this and that.???
Do you have a favourite film?
I liked The Boston Strangler. I liked the character I played and it was a very interesting, different movie. I also liked Insignificance , Trapeze and Some Like It Hot.
What is the best compliment you???ve ever been paid?
In London, I was walking down the street and this good-looking, well-turned-out woman of about 65 saw me and stopped and said: ???You???re the handsomest man I???ve ever seen in my life!??? Halleleujah!
Does it hurt you that you never won an Oscar?
Nothing hurts me deep inside. That is only one part of my life. I have a cornucopia of living ??? I am a painter, I am an author, I am a father and a lover, and I???ve had a lot of girlfriends, a lot of guys I know I like, I???ve got six children, I???ve got a big living experience. If the movies were the only thing I lived for, I would be devastated. You would die in this community, you???d be checking to see if your name was in the trade papers or what part you were going to get, and who???s going to get it. But you can???t live like that.
Who have been your favourite co-stars over the years?
Burt Lancaster, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon. Marilyn was a favourite of mine: she was a lovely woman. We had an up-and-down relationship, but everybody has ups-and-downs.
What are your memories of 'Some Like It Hot????
Well, I remember dragging Jack into the ladies??? rooms to see if our make-up was working properly, and then I took Marilyn in to have her tell me whether I was fooling the girls in there and if they were looking at me funnily or not! I had to be very, very careful and delicate in the playing of that role.
How did you meet Monroe?
I met Marilyn in 1950 when she was trying to get a contract in one of the studios, and we went out for a little while. She was an interesting and very sweet woman. It???s a tragedy she died so young. If you ever look at that photograph of her bedroom that she died in, this was the Goddess of the Sixties, you know, considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, living in this shambolic little room somewhere. Where were all those people who professed to be her friends? Where were the Actors??? Studio people? Where were all these chums of hers?
You had your own problems with drink and drugs - the vices of Hollywood?
Hollywood had nothing to do with it, and I don???t call it a vice. I am a recovering alcoholic and drug-abused person, and that???s the way I look at it.
What got you into that state in the first place?
It just builds up in you. I do not in any way blame Hollywood, ex-wives, friends, the failure of fortune, whatever. They are not to me anything other than little symptoms that the seed of destruction is in all of us. You know it???s foolish to end your life at 35 because it???s going to end at 85 :woah: , and you???re going to tell me 50 years makes a difference one way or the other ??? not necessarily.
You seem to have emerged much stronger and wiser???
I was always an intelligent person, but I was very erratic in my emotional behaviour, and it???s taken my recovery and my search of myself to examine and open it all out to the sun and weed out all those little worms that were wiggling inside of me. You can???t weed it all out because we???re only human. Nobody???s perfect.
Do you have regrets?
I can???t think of anything I???ve done that I would be regretful over. I would be foolish if I thought like that.
Do you fall in love a lot?
Every 20 minutes! In fact, in a couple of hours hopefully I will be in love again!
In Britain you???re perhaps best remembered for the TV series 'The Persuaders???. Do you look back on that with pleasure?
With great pleasure. I made some wonderful friends there ??? Roger Moore and all my English chums. I bought a home and lived in Chester Square for a long time. My boy Nicholas was born in London. He was born December 31, just two hours before the New Year. Had he been the first child born in the New Year, the Queen of England would have sent him a cable saying: ???Welcome to England.???
You???ve often been voted best-dressed man. Do such titles mean anything to you?
That was a long time ago, and that was all a scam. All those best-dressed, best-looking, best actors ??? it???s all a scam and ram and a scam and jam! They award you with something, and you just take it with good grace, and that???s the end of it.
Does vanity play a part in your life, though?
My middle name is vanity! In fact, it should have been Vanity Curtis!
Are you not anxious about getting old?
I have not reflected on it at all, but I am privileged.
In the future when somebody writes an epitaph for you, what would you like it to say?
???Nobody???s perfect.???