At 85, Tony Curtis has passed away peacefully. Probably his most famous role was as Joe/Josephine in Some Like it Hot (1959) with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon. A Billy Wilder film, Monroe famously was late everyday and Curtis described kissing her as 'like kissing Hitler'.He was nominated as best actor for his role in The Defiant Ones (1958), a role which he chased in order to break out of the pretty boy typecast mould. In Spartacus (1960), Curtis as Antoninus is the first one to answer 'I'm Spartacus' before the rest of the slaves do in the scene that spawned a 1000 comedy pub moments.
It does feel as if he is one of the last Hollywood legends to die, although Robert Vaughan is still around. In fact both Curtis and Vaughan found TV fame during a period of the Hollywood wilderness years in the early 1970s. Curtis with Roger Moore in The Persuaders and Vaughan in The Protectors.
Both TV programmes left an imprint on the audiences with John Barry's theme music for The Persuaders and the Tony Christie Avenues and Alleyways song of The Protectors
Well Tony thanks for the memories!
Posts
