Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

Tony Curtis

Actor

Born - 3 June 1925, New York City, USA
Died - 29 September 2010

A pin-up 'beefcake' boy who proved a considerable actor, especially in the late 1950s, Curtis, born Bernard Schwartz, was broodingly handsome with dark curly hair when Universal-International signed him in 1948. He made his debut as a gigolo dancer in their Criss Cross (1948) and played featured roles in Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949), Kansas Raiders (1950) , Winchester 73 (1950) and others, before rising to fan-mail stardom in 'easterns' and swashbucklers, often opposite Piper Laurie or Janet Leigh, who became his first wife: The Prince Who Was a Thief (1950), Son of Ali Baba (1952), Houdini (1953, a personal project), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) and The Purple Mask (1955). He also tried musicals - So This is Paris (1954) and westerns - The Rawhide Years (1956), but displayed more incisive talents in Mister Cory (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Defiant Ones (1957, an Oscar nomination), The Vikings (1958), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Rat Race (1960) and Spartacus (1960). A move into light comedy signalled a downswing in his career and, after something of a comeback in The Boston Strangler (1968), he was confined to lesser films, aside from Lepke (1974). In later years, he appeared in a motley assortment of movies, including The Mirror Crack'd (1980), Brainwaves (1982), Insignificance (1984), Lobster Man from Mars (1989), Center of the Web (1992), The Continued Adventures of Reptile Man (1995), Play It to the Bone (1999) and David & Fatima (2008), his last. Married six times, he died from cardiac arrest after a long battle with pulmonary disease. His six children include the actress Jamie Lee Curtis.