A cause of death has been confirmed for “Rocky Horror Picture Show” star Tim Curry, a week after his death at 80. The actor’s main cause of death was coronary artery disease, People magazine reported.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also listed a history of stroke and kidney cancer as contributing factors.
The theatre and film star had suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2012. Doctors discovered two blood clots in his brain and performed emergency surgery. Following the stroke, the left side of his body was paralysed, and he required the use of a wheelchair.
Curry was unable to speak for several weeks after the stroke. Although his voice returned the following year after rehabilitation, he focused mainly on voice acting for the remainder of his career.
The actor was transparent about his stroke and recovery. “I still can’t walk, which is why I’m in this silly chair, and that’s very limiting,” he said at a 50th anniversary screening of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” in September 2025. “So I won’t be singing and I won’t be dancing very soon. I still have real problems with my left leg.”
“I don’t fear death. I suspect that in the end I will welcome it,” he told Ben Mankiewicz last year. “I may well embrace it.”
The actor’s last credited role was in the 2024 horror film “Stream.” He was set to return in an expanded role in “Stream 2: Sudden Death,” which is in production with Fuzz on the Lens Productions. The film will be dedicated to Curry, who completed filming his scenes for the sequel, director Michael Leavy said.
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“I had been very scared when I did not know what was happening to me, because I had no sense of whether tremendous pain was forthcoming,” Curry wrote in his 2025 memoir “Vagabond.” “But if death comes for me peacefully and I fade gently from light into dark oblivion, why would I be afraid of it? Sometimes, I rather think it would be a comfort.”
From Variety US