Tony Curtis

Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, the son of Emanuel Schwartz and his wife, Helen Klein.[2][3] His parents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Mátészalka, Hungary. Hungarian was Curtis' only language until he was five or six, postponing his schooling.[4] His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop — the parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother had once made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx.[5] Curtis said, "When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness which also affected his brother Robert and led to Robert's institutionalization. When Curtis was eight, he and his younger 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 attended Seward Park High School.

During World War II, Curtis joined the US Navy, inspired by watching Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943).[4] He served aboard USS Proteus, a submarine tender, and on September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away.[6] Following his discharge, Curtis attended City College of New York under the G.I. Bill and studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School in New York with the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator, along with Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau and Rod Steiger. He was discovered by a talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. Curtis claims it was because he "was the handsomest of the boys."[citation needed] Arriving in Hollywood in 1948 at age 23, he was placed under contract at Universal Pictures and changed his name to Tony Curtis, taking his first name from the novel Anthony Adverse and his last name from "Kurtz", a surname from his mother's family.[7] Although the studio taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admits he was at first only interested in girls and money.


Curtis's uncredited screen debut came in Criss Cross (1949) playing a rumba dancer. In his second film, City Across the River (also in 1949), he was credited as "Anthony Cross".[8] Later, as "Tony Curtis", he cemented his reputation with breakthrough performances such as in the role of the scheming press agent Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with Burt Lancaster (who also starred in Criss Cross) and an Oscar-nominated performance as a bigoted escaped convict chained to Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones.

He did both screen comedy and drama together and became the most sought after star in Hollywood: Curtis' comedies include Some Like It Hot (1959), Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and The Great Race (1965), and his dramas included playing the slave Antoninus in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960) co-starring Kirk Douglas and Sir Laurence Olivier,[9] The Outsider (1961), the true story of WW II veteran Ira Hayes, and The Boston Strangler (1968), in which he played the self-confessed murderer of the film's title, Albert DeSalvo. The latter film was praised for Curtis' performance.

Curtis also appeared frequently on television; he co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders!. Later, he co-starred in McCoy and Vega$. In the early 1960s, he was immortalized as "Stony Curtis," a voice-over guest star on The Flintstones.

In 1978, Curtis introduced the Electric Light Orchestra at Wembley Arena for their opening Big Night concert (a Gala charity event) on Out of the Blue Tour: Live at Wembley.

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.[4] "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. But in March 2006, Curtis did receive 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 (Order of Arts and Letters) from France in 1995.
Tony Curtis-D.jpg 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 Curtis. "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."[cite this quote] It was Leigh's third marriage. Curtis, who admitted to his infidelity throughout their marriage, divorced Leigh in 1962 to marry Christine Kaufmann, the 17-year-old German co-star of his latest film, Taras Bulba. He stated, however, that his marriage with Leigh had effectively ended "a year earlier".[4] In 1963 Curtis married Kaufmann. They 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
Andria Savio (1983 – 1992); B movie actress (e.g. 1983's Stryker)
Lisa Deutsch (February 28, 1993 – 1994); divorced
Jill Vandenberg Curtis (November 6, 1998 – September 29, 2010; his death)
In 1998, he founded the Emanuel Foundation for Hungarian Culture, and served as honorary chairperson. The organization works for the restoration and preservation of synagogues and 1300 Jewish cemeteries in Hungary. He dedicated this to the 600,000 Hungarian victims of the Holocaust.[10]

His son Nicholas (December 31, 1970 — April 2, 1994,[11] with Leslie Allen) died of a heroin overdose at the age of 23. Of this Curtis said, "As a father you don't recover from that. There isn't a moment at night that I don't remember him."[cite this quote]

Curtis stated on the television series Shrink Rap that he had a brief relationship with Marilyn Monroe in 1949, which had to end due to their different work commitments.[12] He also details their brief relationship in his memoir, American Prince.

His last wife was 42 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."[cite this quote]

Because of his Hungarian descent he participated in Hungary's country image commercials. In 2004, 16% more American tourists visited Hungary.[13]


Curtis' handprints at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme parkIn 2004, he was inducted into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Hall of Fame.[14] A street is named after him in the Sun City Anthem development in Henderson, Nevada.

Curtis nearly died when he contracted pneumonia in December 2006 and was in a coma for several days. As a result he used a wheelchair and could only walk short distances.[15]

In 2008, he was featured in the documentary The Jill & Tony Curtis Story about his efforts with his wife to rescue horses from slaughterhouses.[16]

In October 2008, Curtis released his latest autobiography American Prince: A Memoir (Harmony Books), written with Peter Golenbock.[17] In it, he elaborates on 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.

In September 2009, Curtis released his second book The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie (John Wiley & Sons), written with Mark A. Vieira.[18] In it, 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.

There is a mural of him on U.S. Highway 101 Southbound at the Sunset Boulevard exit.

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.

On July 8, 2010, Curtis, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was hospitalized in Las Vegas after suffering an asthma attack during a book signing engagement in Henderson, Nevada at Costco.


Curtis died at his Henderson, Nevada (near Las Vegas) home on September 29, 2010, of cardiac arrest.[20] [21][22][23] 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."[24]

He will be interred at Palm Memorial Park Cemetery in Green Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada on October 4, 2010.




News | What members say | Filmography

Tony Curtis - news / articles

Tony Curtis - what members say

Tony Curtis - filmography

5 most recent films

David & Fatima - 0.5 stars
The Celluloid Closet - 3.5 stars
Prime Target - 2.0 stars
Tarzan In Manhattan - 3.0 stars
Insignificance - 3.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

Spartacus - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
Some Like It Hot - 4.0 stars
Spartacus - 4.0 stars
The Persuaders - 4.0 stars
Spartacus - HD - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

The Perfect Furlough - 3 stars
David & Fatima - 0.5 stars
Captain Newman, MD - 1.0 stars
Rich And Powerful - 1.5 stars
Prime Target - 2.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Janet Leigh - 6 times - show films
Kirk Douglas - 5 times - show films
Henry Fonda - 4 times - show films
Burt Lancaster - 4 times - show films
Natalie Wood - 4 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Leslie Norman - 11 times - show films
Sidney Hayers - 11 times - show films
Gerald Mayer - 11 times - show films
Pet - 11 times - show films
Blake Edwards - 3 times - show films