Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925 - September 29, 2010) was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades but who was mostly popular in the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 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 latter half of the 1950s he became a strong screen presence with 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 achieved his first serious recognition as a 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 The Defiant Ones (1958). Curtis then gave what could arguably be called his best performance: three interrelated roles in the comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). Thomson called it an "outrageous film," and a survey carried out by the American Film Institute voted it the funniest American film ever made. The film co-starred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder. That was followed by Blake Edwards’s 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. In 1960, Curtis played a supporting role in Spartacus, which became another major hit for him.

His stardom and film career declined considerably after 1960. His most significant dramatic 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 later starred alongside Roger Moore in the ITC TV series The Persuaders!, with Curtis playing American millionaire Danny Wilde. The series ran twenty-four episodes.

Curtis is the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh.

Early life

Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925, in Manhattan, New York, to Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz. Biographies have propagated a misconception that he was born in the Bronx, probably due to the family's moves when he was very young, but Tony pointedly corrected this in a TV interview. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Czechoslovakia and Hungary: his father was born in Ópályi, near Mátészalka, and his mother was a native of Nagymihály (now Michalovce, Slovakia); she later said she arrived in the US from Válykó (now Vaľkovo, Slovakia). He did not learn English until he was five or six, delaying his schooling. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop—his parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother once made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. Curtis said, "When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. His brother Robert was institutionalized with the same mental illness.

When Curtis was eight, he and his brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck. Curtis joined a neighborhood gang whose main crimes were playing hooky from school and minor pilfering at the local dime store. When Curtis was 11, a friendly neighbor saved him from what he felt would have led to a life of delinquency by sending him to a Boy Scout camp, where he was able to work off his energy and settle down. He attended Seward Park High School. At 16, he had his first small acting part in a school stage play.

War Service

Curtis enlisted in the United States Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor and war was declared. Inspired by Cary Grant's role in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power's in Crash Dive (1943), he joined the Pacific submarine force. Curtis served aboard a submarine tender, the USS Proteus, until the end of the Second World War. On September 2, 1945, Curtis witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from his ship's signal bridge about a mile away.

Following his discharge from the Navy, Curtis attended City College of New York on the G.I. Bill. He then studied acting at The New School in Greenwich Village under the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator. His contemporaries included Elaine Stritch, Harry Belafonte, Walter Matthau, Beatrice Arthur, and Rod Steiger. While still at college, Curtis was discovered by Joyce Selznick, the notable talent agent, casting director, and niece of film producer David O. Selznick.

Career

In 1948, Curtis arrived in Hollywood at age 23.

Universal as "Anthony Curtis"

When he was placed under contract at Universal Pictures, he changed his name from Bernard Schwartz to Tony Curtis. It is also the same studio where he met unknown actors Rock Hudson, Julie Adams and Piper Laurie. The first name was from the novel Anthony Adverse and "Curtis" was from Kurtz. a surname in his mother's family. Although Universal Pictures taught him fencing and riding, in keeping with the cinematic themes of the era, Curtis admitted he was at first interested only in girls and money. Neither was he hopeful of his chances of becoming a major star. Curtis's biggest fear was having to return home to the Bronx as a failure:

I was a million-to-one shot, the least likely to succeed. I wasn't low man on the totem pole, I was under the totem pole, in a sewer, tied to a sack.

Curtis's uncredited screen debut came in Criss Cross (1949) playing a rumba dancer, dancing with Yvonne de Carlo. The male star was Burt Lancaster who would make a number of films with Curtis.

In his second film, City Across the River (also in 1949), he was credited as "Anthony Curtis". He had four lines in The Lady Gambles (1949) and a bigger part in Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949). He could also be spotted in Francis (1950), Woman in Hiding (1950), and I Was a Shoplifter (1950).

He was in two Westerns, Sierra (1950), starring Audie Murphy, and Winchester '73 (1950), one of many names (including fellow Universal contractee, Rock Hudson). He supported Murphy in another Western, Kansas Raiders (1951), playing Kit Dalton; this time he was billed as "Tony Curtis".

Stardom

Curtis was receiving a lot of fan mail so Universal decided to give him the starring role in The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951), an Eastern swashbuckler with Piper Laurie. It was a hit at the box office and Curtis was now established.

He followed it with Flesh and Fury (1952), a boxing movie; No Room for the Groom (1952), a comedy with Laurie directed by Douglas Sirk; and Son of Ali Baba (1952), another "Eastern" with Laurie.

Curtis' career stepped up another notch when he teamed with then-wife Janet Leigh in Houdini (1953), where Curtis played the title role. His next movies were more "B" fare: All American (1953), as a footballer; Forbidden (1953), as a criminal; Beachhead (1954), a war film; Johnny Dark (1954), with Laurie, as a racing car driver; and The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), a medieval swashbuckler with Leigh. The box office performances of these films were solid, and Curtis was growing in popularity.

For a change of pace he did a musical, So This Is Paris (1955), then it was back to more typical fare: Six Bridges to Cross (1955), as a bank robber; The Purple Mask (1955), a swashbuckler; The Square Jungle (1955), a boxing film.

Major Star

Curtis graduated to more prestigious projects when he was cast in support of Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollobrigida in Trapeze (1956). It was one of the biggest hits of the year.

Curtis made a Western, The Rawhide Years (1957), was a gambler in Mister Cory (1957) and a cop in The Midnight Story (1957). Lancaster asked for him again, to play scheming press agent Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), starring and co-produced by Lancaster. It was a box office disappointment but Curtis, for the first time in his years, received sensational reviews.

Another star-producer was interested in Curtis supporting him - Kirk Douglas for The Vikings (1958). Janet Leigh also starred and the resulting movie was a massive hit. Curtis then co-starred with Frank Sinatra and Natalie Wood in Kings Go Forth (1958), a war story. It was mildly popular but The Defiant Ones (1958), was a big success. Curtis gave an Oscar-nominated performance as a bigoted white escaped convict chained to a black man, Sidney Poitier.

Curtis with Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot

Curtis and Leigh made a popular comedy for Blake Edwards at Universal, The Perfect Furlough (1958). He co-starred with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959). It was a huge success, as was Operation Petticoat (1959), a military comedy which Curtis made for Edwards alongside Cary Grant.

Curtis and Leigh made one more film together Who Was That Lady? (1960), a comedy with Dean Martin. He and Debbie Reynolds then starred in the romantic comedy The Rat Race (1960).

Douglas came calling again, offering Curtis a key role in the former's epic production Spartacus (1960). It was a huge hit and earned Curtis a Golden Globe nomination.

Curtis then made his first movies in a while without a significant "name" co star. Both were biopics: The Great Impostor (1961), directed by Robert Mulligan, playing Ferdinand Waldo Demara; and The Outsider (1961), where he played war hero Ira Hayes. He went back to epics with Taras Bulba (1962), co starring Yul Brynner and Christine Kaufmann, who soon became Curtis' second wife.

Focus on Comedy

He and Kaufmann were reunited on the comedy 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962), which was a mild hit.

Curtis was one of many stars who had small roles in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). He supported Gregory Peck in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) and made a cameo in Paris When It Sizzles (1964). He and Kaufman made their third movie together, the comedy Wild and Wonderful (1964). His focus remained on comedies: Goodbye Charlie (1964), with Debbie Reynolds; Sex and the Single Girl (1964), with Natalie Wood; The Great Race (1965), with Wood and Lemmon for Blake Edwards - the most expensive comedy film up til that time but popular; Boeing Boeing (1965) a sex farce with Jerry Lewis; Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966) with George C. Scott; Drop Dead Darling (1966), a British comedy; Don't Make Waves (1967), a satire of beach life from director Alexander Mackendrick, with Claudia Cardinale; and On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... (1967), an Italian comedy with Monica Vitti. In the early 1960s, he was a voice-over guest star on The Flintstones as "Stoney Curtis".

The Boston Strangler

Curtis made his first dramatic film for a number of years with The Boston Strangler (1968) playing the title role and response from the critics and public was excellent. He returned to comedy for Monte Carlo or Bust! (1969), an all-star car race film in the vein of The Great Race.

He made some comic adventure tales: You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) with Charles Bronson and Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came (1970).

Curtis decided it was time to turn to television and co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders!.

He was one of the villains in The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) and had the title role in the gangster film Lepke (1975). Curtis had the lead in a TV series that did not last, McCoy (1975-76). He was one of many names in The Last Tycoon (1976) and had the title role in an Italian comedy Casanova & Co. (1977). Later, he co-starred and Vega$ and was in The Users (1978).

Later Career

Curtis supported Mae West in Sextette (1978) and starred in The Manitou (1978), a horror film and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978), a comedy. He had good roles in It Rained All Night the Day I Left (1980), Little Miss Marker (1980) and The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980) and was one of many stars in The Mirror Crack'd (1980).

Painter

Throughout his life, Curtis enjoyed painting and, since the early 1980s, painted as a second career. His work commands more than $25,000 a canvas now. In the last years of his life, he concentrated on painting rather than movies. A surrealist, Curtis claimed "Van Gogh, [Paul] Matisse, Picasso, Magritte" as influences. "I still make movies but I'm not that interested in them any more. But I paint all the time." In 2007, his painting The Red Table was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His paintings can also be seen at the Tony Vanderploeg Gallery in Carmel, California.

Curtis spoke of his disappointment at never being awarded an Oscar. In March 2006, Curtis received the Sony Ericsson Empire Lifetime Achievement Award. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France in 1995.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Curtis was married six times. His first wife was actress Janet Leigh, to whom he was married from 1951 to 1962, and with whom he fathered actresses Kelly and Jamie Lee. "For a while, we were Hollywood's golden couple," he said. "I was very dedicated and devoted to Janet, and on top of my trade, but in her eyes that goldenness started to wear off. I realized that whatever I was, I wasn't enough for Janet. That hurt me a lot and broke my heart."

The studio he was under contract with, Universal-International, generally stayed out of their stars' love lives. However, when they chose to get married, studio executives spent three days trying to talk him out of it, telling him he would be "poisoning himself at the box office." They threatened "banishment" back to the Bronx and the end of his budding career. In response, Curtis and Leigh decided to defy the studio heads and instead eloped and were married by a local judge in Greenwich, Connecticut. Comedian and close friend Jerry Lewis was present as a witness.

The couple divorced in 1962, and the following year Curtis married Christine Kaufmann, the 18-year-old German co-star of his latest film, Taras Bulba. He stated that his marriage with Leigh had effectively ended "a year earlier". Curtis and Kaufmann had two daughters, Alexandra (born July 19, 1964) and Allegra (born July 11, 1966). They divorced in 1968. Kaufmann resumed her career, which she had interrupted during her marriage.

Curtis was also married to:

• Leslie Allen (April 20, 1968 – 1982); divorced, two sons: Nicholas Curtis (1970–1994) and Benjamin Curtis (born May 2, 1973)
• Andrea Savio (1984-1992); divorced
• Lisa Deutsch (February 28, 1993 – 1994); divorced
• Jill Vandenberg Curtis (November 6, 1998 – September 29, 2010; his death)

His last wife was 45 years his junior. They met in a restaurant in 1993 and married in 1998. "The age gap doesn't bother us. We laugh a lot. My body is functioning and everything is good. She's the sexiest woman I've ever known. We don't think about time. I don't use Viagra either. There are 50 ways to please your lover."

His son Nicholas (December 31, 1970 – April 2, 1994, with Leslie Allen) died of a heroin overdose at the age of 23. After his son's death, Curtis remarked, "You never get over that. The death of a child. No. Can't talk about it," and that it was "a terrible thing when a father loses his son."

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Curtis, who had a problem with alcoholism and drug abuse, went through the treatment center of the Betty Ford Clinic in the mid-1980s, which was successful for him.

Philanthropy

Beginning in 1990, Curtis and his daughter Jamie Lee Curtis took a renewed interest in their family's Hungarian Jewish heritage, and helped finance the rebuilding of the "Great Synagogue" in Budapest, Hungary. The largest synagogue in Europe today, it was originally built in 1859 and suffered damage during World War II. In 1998, he also founded the Emanuel Foundation for Hungarian Culture, and served as honorary chairman. The organization works for the restoration and preservation of synagogues and 1300 Jewish cemeteries in Hungary. He dedicated this to the 600,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Hungary and lands occupied by the Hungarian Army. He also helped promote Hungary's national image in commercials.

Books and appearances

Curtis, during a signing of his 2008 memoir, American Prince

In 1965, Tony Curtis was animated in an episode of The Flintstones; he also voiced his character Stoney Curtis. In 1994, a mural featuring his likeness, painted by the artist George Sportelli, was unveiled on the Sunset Boulevard overpass of the Hollywood Freeway Highway 101 in California. The mural was relocated to Hollywood Boulevard and Bronson Avenue in September 2011.

Also in 1994, the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation awarded its Lone Sailor Award for his naval service and his subsequent acting career.

In 2004, he was inducted into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Hall of Fame. A street is named after him in the Sun City Anthem development in Henderson, Nevada.

In 2008, he was featured in the documentary The Jill & Tony Curtis Story about his efforts with his wife to rescue horses from slaughterhouses.

In October 2008, Curtis's autobiography American Prince: A Memoir, was published. In it, he describes his encounters with other Hollywood legends of the time including Frank Sinatra and James Dean, as well as his hard-knock childhood and path to success. It was followed by the publication of his next book, The Making of Some Like it Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie (2009). Curtis shared his memories of the making of the movie, in particular about Marilyn Monroe, whose antics and attitude on the set made everyone miserable.

On May 22, 2009, Curtis apologized to the BBC radio audience after he used three profanities in a six-minute interview with BBC presenter William Crawley. The presenter also apologized to the audience for Curtis's "Hollywood realism." Curtis explained that he thought the interview was being taped, when it was in fact live.

Later years and death

Curtis was a lifelong Democrat and attended the 1960 Democratic National Convention alongside such liberal performers as Edward G. Robinson, Shelley Winters, Ralph Bellamy, and Lee Marvin.

Curtis developed a heavy cocaine addiction in 1974 while filming Lepke, at a time when his stardom had declined considerably and he was being offered few film roles. In 1984, Curtis was rushed to the hospital suffering from advanced cirrhosis as a result of his alcoholism and cocaine addiction. He then entered the Betty Ford Clinic and vowed to overcome his various illnesses. He underwent heart bypass surgery in 1994, after suffering a heart attack.

Curtis in 2004

Curtis nearly died when he contracted pneumonia in December 2006 and was in a coma for more than a month. As a result, he used a wheelchair afterwards and could walk only short distances.

On July 8, 2010, Curtis, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was hospitalized in Las Vegas after suffering an asthma attack during a book-signing engagement in Henderson, Nevada, where he lived.

Curtis died at his Henderson home on September 29, 2010, of cardiac arrest. He left behind five children and seven grandchildren. His widow Jill told the press that Curtis had suffered from various lung problems for years as a result of cigarette smoking, although he had quit smoking about 30 years earlier. In fact, during the 1960s Curtis served as the president of the American 'I Quit Smoking' Club. In a release to the Associated Press, his daughter, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, stated:

My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages. He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him. He also leaves behind fans all over the world. He will be greatly missed.

His remains were interred at Palm Memorial Park Cemetery in Henderson, Nevada, on October 4, 2010. His memorial service was attended by his daughters, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis; Arnold Schwarzenegger; Rich Little; and Vera Goulet, Robert Goulet's widow. Investor Kirk Kerkorian, actor Kirk Douglas and singer Phyllis McGuire were among the honorary pallbearers.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	City Across the River	Mitch	Credited as Anthony Curtis
1949	The Lady Gambles	Bellboy	Credited as Anthony Curtis
1949	Johnny Stool Pigeon	Joey Hyatt	Credited as Anthony Curtis
1949	How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border		Short film
1950	Francis	Capt. Jones	Credited as Anthony Curtis
1950	Woman in Hiding	Dave Shaw	Voice role; uncredited
1950	I Was a Shoplifter	Pepe	Credited as Anthony Curtis
1950	Sierra	Brent Coulter	Credited as Anthony Curtis
1950	Winchester '73	Doan	Credited as Anthony Curtis
1950	Kansas Raiders	Kit Dalton
1951	The Prince Who Was a Thief	Julna
1952	Flesh and Fury	Paul Callan
1952	No Room for the Groom	Alvah Morrell
1952	Son of Ali Baba	Kashma Baba
1952	Houdini	Harry Houdini
1953	All American	Nick Bonelli
1953	Forbidden	Eddie Darrow
1954	Beachhead	Burke
1954	Johnny Dark	Johnny Dark
1954	The Black Shield of Falworth	Myles
1955	So This Is Paris	Joe Maxwell
1955	Six Bridges to Cross	Jerry Florea
1955	The Purple Mask	Rene de Traviere
1955	The Square Jungle	Eddie Quaid / Packy Glennon
1956	Trapeze	Tino Orsini
1956	The Rawhide Years	Ben Matthews
1957	Mister Cory	Cory
1957	The Midnight Story	Joe Martini
1957	Sweet Smell of Success	Sidney Falco
1958	The Vikings	Eric
1958	Kings Go Forth	Cpl. Britt Harris
1958	The Defiant Ones	John 'Joker' Jackson
1958	The Perfect Furlough	Cpl. Paul Hodges
1959	Some Like It Hot	Joe / Josephine / Shell Oil Junior
1959	Operation Petticoat	Lt. JG Nicholas Holden
1960	Who Was That Lady?	David Wilson
1960	The Rat Race	Pete Hammond Jr.
1960	Spartacus	Antoninus
1961	The Great Impostor	Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. / Martin Donner / Dr. Gilbert / Ben. W. Stone / Dr. Joseph Mornay / Robert Boyd Hammnd
1961	The Outsider	Ira Hayes
1962	Taras Bulba	Andrei Bulba
1962	40 Pounds of Trouble	Steve McCluskey
1963	The List of Adrian Messenger	Organ grinder	Cameo
1963	Captain Newman, M.D.	Cpl. Jackson 'Jake' Leibowitz
1964	Paris When It Sizzles	Maurice / Philippe - 2nd Policeman; uncredited
1964	Wild and Wonderful	Terry Williams
1964	Goodbye Charlie	George Tracy
1964	Sex and the Single Girl	Bob Weston
1965	The Great Race	The Great Leslie
1965	The Flintstones	Stony Curtis	Voice role
1965	Boeing Boeing	Bernard Lawrence
1966	Chamber of Horrors	Mr. Julian	Cameo; uncredited
1966	Not with My Wife, You Don't!	Tom Ferris
1966	Arrivederci, Baby!	Nick Johnson
1967	Don't Make Waves	Carlo Coifed
1967	On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who...	Guerrando da Montone
1968	Rosemary's Baby	Donald Baumgart	Voice; uncredited
1968	The Boston Strangler	Albert DeSalvo
1969	Monte Carlo or Bust!	Chester Schofield
1970	You Can't Win 'Em All	Adam Dyer
1970	Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came	Shannon Gambroni
1975	The Count of Monte Cristo	Fernand Mondego
1975	Lepke	Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter
1976	The Last Tycoon	Rodriguez
1977	Casanova & Co.	Giacomo / Casanova
1978	Sextette	Alexei Karansky
1978	The Manitou	Harry Erskine
1978	The Bad News Bears Go to Japan	Marvin Lazar
1978	The Users	Randy Brent
1978	Electric Light Orchestra Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley	Himself
1979	Title Shot	Frank Renzetti
1980	It Rained All Night the Day I Left	Robert Talbot
1980	Little Miss Marker	Blackie
1980	The Scarlett O'Hara War	David O. Selznick
1980	The Mirror Crack'd	Martin N. Fenn
1982	Othello, the Black Commando	Col. Iago
1982	Brainwaves	Dr. Clavius
1983	Balboa	Ernie Stoddard
1984	Where Is Parsifal?	Parsifal Katzenellenbogen
1985	The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal	Himself	Documentary
1985	Insignificance	Senator
1986	Mafia Princess	Sam Giancana
1986	Club Life	Hector
1986	Banter	Charles Foster
1986	Murder in Three Acts	Charles Cartwright
1988	The Passenger – Welcome to Germany	Mr. Cornfield
1989	Lobster Man from Mars	J.P. Shelldrake
1989	Tarzan in Manhattan	Archimedes Porter
1989	Midnight	Mr. B
1989	Walter & Carlo In America	Willy La Rouge
1990	Thanksgiving Day	Max Schloss	Television film
1991	Prime Target	Marietta Copella
1992	Christmas in Connecticut	Alexander Yardley
1992	Center of the Web	Stephen Moore
1992	Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time	Himself	Documentary
1993	The Mummy Lives	Aziru / Dr. Mohassid
1993	Naked in New York	Carl Fisher
1994	A Century of Cinema	Himself	Documentary
1995	The Immortals	Dominic
1995	The Celluloid Closet	Himself	Documentary
1997	Hardball	Wald
1997	Brittle Glory	Jack Steele
1997	Elvis Meets Nixon	Himself	Uncredited
1997	Alien X Factor	Dr. Lancaster	Archive footage
1998	Louis & Frank	Lenny Star Springer
1998	Stargames	King Fendel
1999	Play It to the Bone	Ringside Fan	Cameo
2002	Reflections of Evil	Narrator
2006	Where's Marty?	Himself
2007	The Blacksmith and the Carpenter	God	Voice role
2008	David & Fatima	Mr. Schwartz
2008	The Jill & Tony Curtis Story	Himself	Documentary
2012	Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom	Himself	Documentary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971–1972	The Persuaders!	Danny Wilde / Aunt Sophie
1974	Mission: Monte Carlo	Danny Wilde	Archive footage
1975–1976	McCoy	McCoy
1978–1981	Vega$	Roth
1996	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Dr. Isaac Mamba
1996	Roseanne	Hal

Box Office Ranking

For a number of years Curtis was voted by exhibitors in an annual poll from Quigley Publishing as among the top stars in the US:

• 1954 – 23rd
• 1959 – 18th
• 1960 – 6th
• 1961 – 9th
• 1962 – 18th

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1951	Suspense	The McKay College Basketball Scandal
1952	Stars in the Air	Model Wife

In literature

The costumes of Tony Curtis worn in the movie Some Like It Hot, are discussed in the 2017 gambling novel Never Split Tens by Les Golden of Oak Park, Illinois, published by Springer.

Further reading

• Curtis, Tony; Barry Paris (1993). Tony Curtis: The Autobiography. New York: William Morrow & Company. ISBN 978-0-688-09759-2.
• Ayres, Ian (2006). Van Gogh's Ear: The Celebrity Edition. Paris: French Connection. ISBN 978-2-914853-07-1. The book includes Tony Curtis's prose, poetry, and artwork.
• Curtis, Tony; Peter Golenbock (2008). Tony Curtis: American Prince: My Autobiography. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-307-40849-5.
• Curtis, Tony (2009). Some Like it Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Making of the Classic Movie. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-470-53721-3.
• Wise, James. Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997. ISBN 1557509379 Template:OCLC

External links

• Tonycurtis.com
• Template:Britannica
• Tony Curtis at the Internet Movie Database
• Remembering Tony Curtis [1] Bronx News, 2012
• Template:YouTube
• Template:Tcmdb name
• Tony Curtis at Find a Grave
• Biography and naval service from the California Center for Military History website
• Tony Curtis' Famous Friends – slideshow by Life magazine
• 2009 interview with Dodd Vickers for the Magic Newswire
• John Patterson, "Some like it very hot", The Guardian, 18 April 2008
• Alison Jackson, Some tormented Hollywood souls still like their gossip hot, Profile: Tony Curtis, Sunday Times, 20 April 2008
• Documentary film, The Jill & Tony Curtis Story
• Photographs and literature
• Tony Curtis: Life and Times – slideshow by Life magazine
• The Telegraph obituary
• Interview by Michael Hainey for GQ Magazine