Tony Curtis, whose good looks made him a Hollywood star well before he became an accomplished actor in movies such as The Sweet Smell of Success and Some Like It Hot, died at his home in Nevada, ABC News reported Thursday. He was 85.
Curtis, one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1950s and one of Hollywood’s busiest playboys during that time, died in bed at midnight at Henderson, Nevada, ABC said, citing his business manager and family spokesman Preston Ahearn.
Curtis had a memorable role in the classic gladiator movie Spartacus in 1960 and received an Academy Award nomination for the 1959 film The Defiant Ones, but his career got off to a rough start.
Two of his most enduring performances came in Some Like It Hot as he teamed with Jack Lemmon — playing cross-dressers opposite Marilyn Monroe — and The Sweet Smell of Success, in which he played a fawning press agent.
Besides the Oscar-nominated Defiant Ones, in which he played racist escaped con chained to Sidney Poitier, his other notable films included Houdini, Trapeze, Operation Petticoat, The Boston Strangler, The Vikings and The Great Imposter. Curtis made more than 140 films, mixing comedies with dramas, but part of his life was plagued by poor movies and struggles with cocaine and alcohol. —Reuters