Tony Curtis passed away yesterday at the age of 85. He began his movie career back in 1949 and appeared in over 100 films along with numerous TV appearances and stage work.. His real name was Bernie Schwartz and it is one of the most well known cases of a movie star changing their names to hide an ethnic identity. During WWII he joined the Navy, inspired by watching Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo. Fate would later pair the duo in the WWII submarine film Operation Petticoat. After the war he studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The new School in NYC. His classmates included Walter Matthau and Rod Steiger. he would work with both men during his film career. He appeared in four films in 1949, sometimes billed as Anthony Curtis. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1958 for his role in The Defiant Ones. It was the only nomination he would ever receive. His most famous role will always be Joe/Josephine in Some Like It Hot, widely recognized as the funniest movie ever made.
His work in television included the British TV series The Persuaders with Roger Moore and he starred in the TV series McCoy and Vega$. He also played a version of himself when he appeared in the Flintstones as Stony Curtis. He was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the NBC mini-series Moviola.
Tony began his career as a "matinee idol" and was appreciated for his dashing good looks. Those looks served him well throughout a career filled with light, slightly risque sex comedies. But his career never developed beyond that. While other actors of his generation, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Rod Steiger, Walter Matthau and Paul Newman, all had careers into their senior years, Curtis' career petered out. Like many female matinee idols, when his looks faded, so did his career.
He always felt he did not get the recognition he deserved from the critics and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For a period in the late 60's and 70's when his career was in decline he turned to drugs and alcohol. This made it harder for him to work and harder to find roles.
He went into recovery and began a second career as a painter. His work as been on Display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a Tony Curtis work can sell for $25,000.
He was married six times, the most famous being his marriage to actress and co-star Janet Leigh. He has six children, the most famous being actress Jamie Leigh Curtis.
Here is a look at some of the most notable and notorious of the more than 100 films Tony Curtis appeared in during his long career.
His first film. He played a gigolo and was uncredited. It was also the first time he would work with Burt Lancaster
He had a small role in this James Stewart classic. Rock Hudson also appeared.
His first big starring role. He married his co-star Janet Leigh.
His second film with wife Janet Leigh. Is this the one where he said "Yonda lies da castle of my fadda"?
Trapeze featured his second appearance with Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollabrigida in her first American film.
Curtis plays the con artist Mr. Cory in his first film with Blake Edwards.
In Sweet Smell Of Success Curtis proved he was more than just a pretty face. As press agent Sidney Falco he held his own against Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker. He considered this his greatest role.
Curtis appeared in another box office hit working for the first time with Kirk Douglas.
He worked for the first time with Natalie Wood and Frank Sinatra in this moderately successful WWII film. The film is notable for attempting to deal with issues of racism and miscegenation.
Curtis' next film took racism head on when he appeared opposite Sidney Poitier as a racist southern convict who escapes chained to Poitier. They hate each other, but must work together to survive. Curtis received his only Oscar nod for this film.
Another comedy with director Blake Edwards and co-starring wife Janet Leigh. he also worked with Dramatic Workshop classmate Elaine Stritch
In 2000 the American Film Institute named Some Like It Hot the funniest movie ever made.
It is the crowning achievement in Tony Curtis' career. He displayed impeccable comic timing and a unique knack for channeling Cary Grant.
He played three roles in the film, Joe, the down on his luck musician, Josephine, the saxophone player and Junior, a Shell Oil millionaire who has problems with intimacy.
He worked with his idol, Cary Grant, in the hugely successful WWII comedy, again working with director Blake Edwards.
A political sex comedy that also starred Dean Martin. This was the last film he would make with his wife Janet Leigh. They would divorce two years later.
Two people struggling to make it in the big city. Curtis appeared with Debbie Reynolds in this uneven comedy drama similar in tone to The Apartment, but not as good.
Tony Curtis was in huge demand after the hit Some Like It Hot and Kirk Douglas brought him on board Spartacus to add star power. He plays slave Antoninus, who leaves his master and joins Spartacus in his fight for freedom.
A comedy drama based on the best selling novel and true life story of impostor Ferdinand Waldo Demara.
An uneven biopic about one of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.
Curtis starred in the successful epic about Russian Cossacks.
A retelling of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker, that was filmed in lake Tahoe and Disneyland. The first film by director Norman Jewison.
Curtis worked with Gregory Peck on the movie version of the best selling book Captain Newman, M.D.
A romantic comedy that paired Curtis with a dog that has a nose for booze.
A reincarnation comedy that paired Curtis with Debbie Reynolds once again. Was remade as the film Switch
Based on the best selling book by Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl was one of the highest grossing films of 1964
Of the three films Curtis made with Natalie Wood, this is the best.
Curtis appeared as the Great Leslie in the last film he would make with director Blake Edwards.
He appeared with Jerry Lewis in this jet age sex comedy.
Also known as "Drop Dead, Darling" this uneven black comedy about a man who kills a succession of spouses for their money went through multiple title changes.
A slow moving sex farce that featured Verna Lisi in her second American film role. Scott and Curtis also worked together when Curtis had a cameo appearance in The List Of Adrian Messenger.
The artwork and tag lines on this 1967 poster show the studios trying make these light sex farces relevant by making them hip. They even included music by the The Byrds to try to bring in the youngsters who were turning away from this kind of stuff in droves.
An Italian sex farce with a title so unwieldy it was changed to....
But the title change didn't do much to help with the films box office.
Curtis had a cameo in Rosemary's Baby. He was highly effective as actor Donald Baumgart who, mysteriously blinded, has a conversation with Rosemary on the phone.
Tony Curtis made a departure from the light frivolous comedy roles he had been playing to star in this urban, gritty crime drama.
He received wide praise for his turn as real life serial killer Albert DeSalvo, better known as The Boston Strangler. He co-starred with Henry Fonda for the first time.
Similar in tone to "The Great Race" overseas the film was titled "Monte Carlo or Bust" but was changed in the U.S. to follow in the success of "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines".
A mercenary action pic that co-stars Charles Bronson and takes place during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922
A 1969 war comedy that pits the old generation against the new.
Hoping to cash in on the success of The Godfather films this gangster film features the rise and fall of Murder Inc. This 1975 picture is the last film that would headline Tony Curtis. His career went into free fall after this film.
Combined episodes of the Tv show The persuaders, released as a feature film overseas.
Poster stylized like a 70's James Bond poster
Elia Kazan's poorly received film based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.
This film clearly demonstrates the decline of Tony Curtis' career. It had three different titles:
The Mis-Adventures Of Casanova, Sex On The Run and finally, to cash in on his former success, Some Like It Cool.
Widely considered one of the worst sex comedies ever made, Tony Curtis had a small role in Mae west's last film. A riches of embarrassment.
First came The Exorcist, the The Omen and now The Manitou....one of the silliest horror movies ever made.
Tony Curtis took on the role of coach in this third, and very lame sequel to the original Bad News Bears.
Curtis returned in another remake of Little Miss marker, this time appearing as the bad guy, Blackie.
Capitalizing on the success of the all star films Murder On The Orient Express and Death On the Nile, this Agatha Christie movie featured Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple and a large cast of Hollywood notables as the murder suspects.
An odd, low budget thriller involving love, murder and brain transplants.
Tony Curtis once again had a starring role in a low budget 90's action pic where he plays a gangster who must work with a renegade cop when they are both targeted for murder.
