Tony Curtis
| Tony Curtis | |
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| Born | Bernard Schwartz June 3, 1925 New York City, New York United States |
| Years active | 1948–Present |
| Spouse | Janet Leigh (1951–1962) Christine Kaufmann (1963–1967) Leslie Allen (1968–1982) Lisa Deutsch (1993–1994) Jill Vandenberg (1998–2010) |
Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925) is an American film actor. He has played a variety of roles, from light comedy, such as the musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot, to serious dramatic roles, such as an escaped convict in The Defiant Ones, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Since 1949, he has appeared in more than 100 films and has made frequent television appearances.
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Early life
Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, the son of Emanuel Schwartz and his wife Helen Klein.[1][2] His parents were Hungarian immigrants of Jewish descent from Mátészalka, Hungary; Hungarian was Curtis' only language until he was five or six, postponing his schooling.[3] 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.[4] Curtis has 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 his 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.
During World War II, Curtis joined the United States Navy due to watching Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943).[3] He served aboard USS Proteus (AS-19), a submarine tender, and on September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away.[5] Following his discharge, Curtis studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German 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." 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.[6] Although the studio taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admits he was at first only interested in girls and money.
Career
Curtis's screen debut came uncredited in the Criss Cross (1949) playing a rumba dancer. Later, he cemented his reputation with breakout 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 and Sex and the Single Girl, and his dramas include The Outsider, the true story of WW II veteran Ira Hayes, and The Boston Strangler, 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.
Throughout his life, Curtis has enjoyed painting, and since the early 1980s, has painted as a second career. His work commands more than $25,000 a canvas now and he now focuses on painting rather than movies. A surrealist, Curtis claims "Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Magritte" as influences.[3] "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 in Manhattan. His paintings can also be seen at the Tony Vanderploeg Gallery in Carmel, California.
Curtis has spoken in the past 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.
Personal life
Curtis has been married five times. His first (and most famous) wife was the actress Janet Leigh (1927–2004), to whom he was married for 11 years (June 4, 1951 – 1962), and with whom he fathered actresses Jamie Lee and Kelly Curtis. "For a while, we were Hollywood's golden couple," he says. "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." It was Leigh's third marriage. Curtis, who admits to cheating on her 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 states, however, that the marriage had effectively ended "a year earlier".[3] They had two children.
Curtis has also been married to:
- Leslie Allen (April 20, 1968 – 1982); divorced, two children
- Lisa Deutsch (February 28, 1993 – 1994); divorced
- Jill Vandenberg Curtis (November 6, 1998 – 2010)
In 1998, he founded the Emanuel Foundation for Hungarian Culture, and has served as honorary chairperson. This is 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.[7]
His son Nicholas (with Leslie Allen) died of a heroin overdose on April 2, 1994, at the age of 23. Of this Curtis has said, "As a father you don't recover from that. There isn't a moment at night that I don't remember him."
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.[8] He also details their brief relationship in his memoir, "American Prince."
His current wife is 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."
Because of his Hungarian descent he participated in Hungary's country image commercials. In 2004 16% more American tourist visited Hungary.[9]
In 2004, he was inducted into the UNLV Hall of Fame.[10] 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. He now uses a wheelchair and can only walk short distances.[11] Curtis now lives in Sun City Anthem, which is located in Henderson, Nevada.
In October 2008, Curtis released his latest autobiography American Prince: A Memoir (Harmony Books), written with Peter Golenbock.[12] In it, he elaborates on his widely publicized affair with Marilyn Monroe, 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.
There is a mural of him on US Highway 101 Southbound at the Sunset Blvd. exit.
On 22 May 2009, Curtis had to apologize 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.
In mid July, 2010, Curtis was hospitalized in Las Vegas after suffering an asthma attack during a book signing engagement in Henderson, Nevada at Costco.[13]
Filmography
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References
- ↑ "Person Page 17110". thePeerage.com. http://www.thepeerage.com/p17110.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
- ↑ Thomas Quinn Curtiss (1994-11-16). "Books - Tony Curtis - Nytimes.Com". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/11/16/book3_0.php. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Private Screenings: Tony Curtis. Turner Classic Movies, 19 Jan 1999.
- ↑ “”. "You Bet Your Life 0". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlSCSHLi8J4&feature=PlayList&p=4jr0YwBM51M. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
- ↑ "TenderTale". TenderTale. http://tendertale.com/ttiii/ttiii1.html. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
- ↑ Rizzo, Frank (2009-10-01). "My Interview With Tony Curtis". Hartford Courant. http://blogs.courant.com/curtain/2009/10/my-interview-with-tony-curtis.html. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
- ↑ "Curtis aiding Hungary Jews - Chicago Sun-Times | HighBeam Research - FREE trial". Highbeam.com. 1988-06-29. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3892380.html. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
- ↑ "Shrink Rap" More4 interview with Pamela Connolly broadcast 8/5/2008
- ↑ "Csináljon velünk országimázs filmet!". Origo.hu. 2010-06-08. http://www.origo.hu/utazas/20100608-orszagimazs-tony-curtis-magyar-turizmus-zrt.html. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
- ↑ "View Newspapers: "TONY CURTIS: Now a local legend"". Viewnews.com. 2004-09-10. http://www.viewnews.com/2004/VIEW-Sep-10-Fri-2004/Summerlin/24694628.html. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
- ↑ "Daily Mail". Daily Mail. 2008-04-17. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=560321&in_page_id=1773. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
- ↑ American Prince, published by Harmony Books, ISBN 978-190526-434-6
- ↑ AZcentral.com. retrieved 7/19/2010. Tony Curtis Stable after asthma attack
External links
- Tony Curtis at the Internet Movie Database
- Tony Curtis at the TCM Movie Database
- Biography and naval service from the California Center for Military History website
- 2007 interview by Nick Thomas in Nevada Magazine
- John Patterson, Some like it very hot (Interview), 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
Further reading
- 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 978-0470537213.
- 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 (includes Tony Curtis's prose/poetry/artwork). Paris: French Connection. ISBN 978-2-914-85307-1.