Legendary Facts About Actor Tony Curtis
When Tony Curtis passed away in 2010 at the age of 85, he left a legacy that few in Hollywood could match: A career spanning more than six decades, with over a hundred movies.
While Curtis is perhaps best remembered for his comedic roles, he showed an impressive range throughout his long and varied career, acting across a variety of genres. Let’s look back at one of the most famous faces in showbiz.
His early years were difficult.
Born in New York to Jewish immigrants from Hungary, Tony Curtis was christened Bernard Schwartz. While he was known to be quick-witted as a Hollywood star, the young Bernard Schwartz didn’t even learn to speak English until the age of six.
It was a challenging childhood, as Schwartz and his siblings were impoverished and often didn’t have enough to eat. In fact, he spent time in an orphanage at the age of eight when his parents were unable to put food on the table.
Film inspired him to fight.
Before he changed his name to Tony Curtis and became a Hollywood star, Bernard Schwartz served as a submarine tender during World War II.
As a preview of things to come, Hollywood actually influenced his decision to enlist, as he said he was inspired to join the fight after watching two films of the era, Destination Tokyo and Crash Dive.
He studied acting and moved to Hollywood.
Thanks to the G.I. Bill, Schwartz was able to study acting at City College of New York. In the late ’40s, he moved to Hollywood and changed his name to Anthony Curtis.
Curtis said that he borrowed the first name from the novel Anthony Adverse, while “Curtis” was an anglicization of Kurtz, which was a surname from his mother’s side of the family.
He quickly found stardom.
While his early roles consisted of uncredited screen time or just a few lines, Curtis’ bosses at Universal noted that this relatively unknown actor was still receiving fan letters.
The studio decided to place a big bet on Curtis by giving him top billing in 1951’s The Prince Who Was a Thief. This film proved to be a success, and Tony Curtis was now known as a box office star.
He defied the studio when it came to love.
Curtis married fellow movie star Janet Leigh in 1951, making them a true Hollywood power couple of the time. However, this marriage was controversial to Curtis’ bosses at Universal, who believed that Curtis would be a bigger draw if he remained single.
The couple remained married for more than a decade, having two children (actresses in their own right), and opted for divorce in 1962. As we’ll find out, this wasn’t the last time he’d tie the knot.
His star power grew through the ’50s.
Tony Curtis was a bankable star throughout the 1950s, generally in supporting or co-starring roles. One of his most famous film roles came in 1959’s Some Like It Hot, which also starred Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon.
The film is regarded as a legendary comedy, and Curtis was able to show off his comedic chops in the role of Joe/Josephine. This would set the stage for more comedic roles in the years that followed.
He started his own film production companies.
While he’d found big screen success, Curtis often found himself frustrated by the perception that movie executives saw him as just another pretty face.
Curtis had created a film production company with Janet Leigh, Curtleigh Productions, in 1955. But in 1961, Curtis created his own solo company, Curtis Enterprises Incorporated, following it up with yet another company, Reynard Productions, in 1962.
The ’60s brought many comedies.
Throughout the ’60s, Curtis focused almost entirely on the comedy genre, but was unable to capture the box office success of Some Like it Hot.
Notable roles during the decade included 1965’s The Great Race, which was the most expensive comedic film of all time when it was released, and Boeing Boeing alongside Jerry Lewis. Unfortunately, most of these films fell flat with critics and audiences alike.
He took a pay cut to leave comedy.
Faced with diminishing returns from his comedic output, Curtis took a $100,000 pay cut to star in 1968’s The Boston Strangler. It was a big gamble for Curtis, as he hadn’t acted in a dramatic film in years.
The movie was acclaimed, with Curtis’ role in particular singled out for praise. It helped reignite his career and in the late ’60s and early ’70s, he continued to appear in various roles.
He was never far from the industry.
Curtis became more of a reliable character actor and less of a leading man as the 1970s wore on, and he appeared across a wide variety of genres on both the big and small screen in the decades that would follow.
He would appear in the national tour of the musical Some Like it Hot in 2002, and also popped up in television commercials, public service announcements, and game shows. His last credited TV performance came in a 2010 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
He had a second act as a painter.
While Curtis never really left Hollywood, he did step away from acting somewhat in the 1980s to focus on his hobby of painting. As his skills increased, his work was exhibited in various galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Late in his life, he acknowledged, “I still make movies but I’m not that interested in them anymore. But I paint all the time.”
Oscar gold eluded him.
Tony Curtis was one of the most venerable and revered actors of the 20th century, but despite his acclaim, he never won an Academy Award. In fact, as hard as it is to believe, Curtis only received one Oscar nomination during his career (for Best Actor in 1959’s The Defiant Ones).
Curtis did start to rack up various Lifetime Achievement Awards later in his career, and also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He was married six times.
After his marriage to Janet Leigh ended in 1962, Curtis quickly married 18-year-old actress Christine Kaufmann the following year. This marriage would end in 1968.
Later in 1968, Curtis married Leslie Allen, to whom he stayed married until 1982. In 1984, he married Andrea Savio, eventually divorcing in 1992. In 1993, he was married to Lisa Deutsch for only a year. Finally, in 1998, he married Jill Vandenberg, who was 45 years younger than he was.
He has six kids.
Tony Curtis had six kids during his lifetime, three of whom became notable actresses in their own right. His marriage to Janet Leigh produced Kelly and Jamie Lee Curtis, while his marriage to Christine Kaufmann produced Allegra Curtis.
In the ’90s, Tony and Jamie Lee Curtis worked together to help restore the Great Synagogue of Budapest, Hungary. They were inspired to do so after reconnecting with their Hungarian Jewish heritage.
He passed away at the age of 85.
Curtis had struggled with addiction in the ’70s and ’80s, but was clean and mostly healthy later in life. In 2010, he passed away of cardiac arrest at his home in Henderson, Nevada.
He was laid to rest with some of his favorite trinkets, including a Stetson hat, Armani scarf, and iPhone. Controversially, he’d rewritten his will before his death to exclude his children and leave his entire estate to his wife.
