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Tony Curtis
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Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925) is an American film actor. He is best known for light comic roles, especially as a musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot (1959) with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. He has also played serious dramatic roles, such as an escaped convict in The Defiant Ones (1958), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Since 1949, he has appeared in more than 100 films and has made frequent television appearances.
is was born as Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz.
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Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925) is an American film actor. He is best known for light comic roles, especially as a musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot (1959) with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. He has also played serious dramatic roles, such as an escaped convict in The Defiant Ones (1958), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Since 1949, he has appeared in more than 100 films and has made frequent television appearances.
Early life
Curtis was born as Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz. His father was a tailor. The family lived in the back of the tailor shop, his parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. 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 served in the United States Navy aboard USS Proteus (AS-19), a submarine tender. On September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away.
Following his military service, Curtis studied acting in New York 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. 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 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 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 was so popular during the 1950s as a screen hunk that Elvis Presley copied his on-screen ducktail hairstyle.
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. "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.
Curtis has spoken in the past of his disappointment at never being awarded an Oscar. "My profession has never recognized me sufficiently for my work." 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
Tony 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, left Leigh in 1962 for Christine Kaufmann, the 17-year-old German co-star of his latest film, Taras Bulba.
Curtis has also been married to:
- Jill Vandenberg Curtis (November 6, 1998—)
- Lisa Deutsch (February 28, 1993–1994); divorced
- Leslie Allen (April 20, 1968–1982); divorced, two children
- Christine Kaufmann (February 8, 1963–1967); divorced, two children
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."
In 1970, Curtis was arrested for possession of marijuana, while he was on an anti-smoking board.
In 2002, Curtis purportedly told a British gay magazine attitude, "I was 22 when I arrived in Hollywood in 1948. I had more action than Mount Vesuvius; men, women, animals! I loved it too. I participated where I wanted to and didn't where I didn't. I've always been open about it."
Curtis states that he had a brief relationship with Marilyn Monroe in 1949, which had to end due to their different work commitments.
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."
In 2004, he was inducted into the UNLV Hall of Fame. A street is named after him at The Revere at Anthem development in Henderson, Nevada.
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.
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.
In October 2008, Curtis released his latest autobiography American Prince: A Memoir (Harmony Books), written with Peter Golenbock. 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 Friday 24th October 2008 he appeared as a guest on the popular UK chat show 'Friday Night With Jonathan Ross' on the BBC, along with Daniel Craig, Grace Jones and the UK girl band 'Girls Aloud'.
Filmography
Further reading
External links
- and from the California Center for Military History website
- 2007 in Nevada Magazine
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