Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot (1959)
Legendary American actor Tony Curtis, famous for starring in such classics as “Sweet Smell of Success,” “Some Like it Hot,” “The Defiant Ones,” and “Spartacus,” passed away in his Nevada home near Las Vegas due to heart failure at age 85.
Before arriving in Hollywood from the Bronx and enjoying a career that lasted about 60 years where he starred in over 100 films, Curtis was known as Bernard Schwartz.
Curtis got his first big break in Hollywood through his role as a press agent in “Sweet Smell of Success,” where he starred alongside Burt Lancaster. He is also remembered for such roles as a cross dressing jazz musician trying to win Marilyn Monroe’s heart in “Some Like it Hot,” a slave next to Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick’s historical drama “Spartacus,” and as an escaped prisoner starring opposite Sidney Poitier in “The Defiant Ones,” for which he won major acclaim along with his first, and only, Academy Award nomination for best actor.
Even though Curtis was a major star in his heyday, his career is comprised mainly of movies he did in his younger days. In fact, if Curtis had passed away at the same age as Marilyn Monroe, 36, he would still be remembered for the same movies.
“My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages,” Jamie Lee Curtis — his daughter with first wife Janet Leigh, co-star of “Psycho” — said in a statement. “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.”
