Neither was he hopeful of his chances of becoming a major star. In March 2006, Curtis received the Sony Ericsson Empire Lifetime Achievement Award. Two years later, in 1984, Curtis married Andrea Savio; they divorced in 1992.[23]. While still at college, Curtis was discovered by Joyce Selznick, the notable talent agent, casting director, and niece of film producer David O. Selznick. “He had a wonderful way of bringing us an ll together.”, It couldn’t have been easy. His son’s death wasn’t the first tragedy in Tony’s life. His paintings can also be seen at the Tony Vanderploeg Gallery in Carmel, California. Mamie Van Doren Reflects on Life, Love and More, Inside Prince Harry and Meghan's 'Bright and Airy' Playroom for Archie, How Marie Osmond and Steve Are 'Making Up' for 25 Years of Lost Time, The Big 7-5! Also in 1994, the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation awarded its Lone Sailor Award for his naval service and his subsequent acting career. [47] In fact, during the 1960s Curtis served as the president of the American 'I Quit Smoking' Club. The largest synagogue in Europe today, it was originally built in 1859 and suffered damage during World War II. They divorced only a year later in 1994. — Ben Curtis (@_benacurtis) December 8, 2020. When Curtis was 11, a friendly neighbor saved him from what he felt would have led to a life of delinquency by sending him to a Boy Scout camp, where he was able to work off his energy and settle down. [11] His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. But to his family, life with Tony Curtis — who had six children and six wives — was a more fraught affair. It was mildly popular, but The Defiant Ones (1958), was a bigger success. His parents were Hungarian-Jewish emigrants from Czechoslovakia and Hungary: his father was born in Ópályi, near Mátészalka, and his mother was a native of Nagymihály (now Michalovce, Slovakia); she later said she arrived in the U.S. from Válykó (now Vaľkovo, Slovakia). Curtis supported Mae West in Sextette (1978) and starred in The Manitou (1978), a horror film, and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978), a comedy. Curtis then gave what could arguably be called his best performance: three interrelated roles in the comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). His remains were interred at Palm Memorial Park Cemetery in Henderson, Nevada, on October 4, 2010. His work commands more than $25,000 a canvas now. She won a BAFTA award in the category of ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her … He attended Seward Park High School. There was no arguing with him. He supported Gregory Peck in Captain Newman, M.D. In 1994, Curtis lost one of his children, son Nicholas Curtis, who passed away at the age of 23. [13], Curtis enlisted in the United States Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bill. “I was 22 and didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself,” she says. But, since his return to the saddled 23 days later, Curtis has picked up where he left off, with five winners since the start of the year. He then entered the Betty Ford Clinic and vowed to overcome his various illnesses. [30] A street is named after him in the Sun City Anthem development of his adopted hometown, Henderson, Nevada. [9] Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album by The Beatles. Visiting where he is today and what happened to cause him to change his Will! By … “He did what he was supposed to do from a financial standpoint, which was honorable of him,” says Jamie Lee. He made some comic adventure tales: You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) with Charles Bronson and Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came (1970). The series ran twenty-four episodes. "[19][20], The studio he was under contract with, Universal-International, generally stayed out of their stars' love lives. “If he had one sort of failing, I suppose it was with women,” Peter Golenbock, co-author of Tony’s 2008 memoir American Prince, tells Closer, explaining that once children entered Tony’s marriages, he would start to wander. His mother made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life on February 9, 1956, hosted by Groucho Marx. ... Curtis' Tony Carroll-trained 7-2 shot was short of room when hampered and brought down two furlongs from the finish. The following year he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in The Defiant Ones (1958) alongside Sidney Poitier (who was also nominated in the same category). [31], In 2008, he was featured in the documentary The Jill & Tony Curtis Story about his efforts with his wife to rescue horses from slaughterhouses.[32]. They were both frantic comedies, and displayed his impeccable comic timing. “He was the one who taught me that it’s OK if men cry.”. On television, he continued to make occasional guest appearances (sometimes playing fictional versions of himself) into the mid-2000s. In 2007, his painting The Red Table was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Curtis was sleeping at a friend's house when he had the seizure on Saturday, said Jennifer Walsh, a secretary for Tony Curtis. When the star passed away in 2010 at age 85 following a cardiac arrest, he was buried with a pair of his son Nicholas’ baby shoes. From Vanity Fair, June 2005. The actor finally got the sons he craved during his third marriage to The Last Tycoon actress Leslie Allen: Ben, 47, and Nicholas, who died tragically in 1994 at age 23. He achieved his first serious recognition as a dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The box office performances of these films were solid, and Curtis was growing in popularity. For a change of pace he did a musical, So This Is Paris (1955), then it was back to more typical fare: Six Bridges to Cross (1955), as a bank robber; The Purple Mask (1955), a swashbuckler; The Square Jungle (1955), a boxing film. He was in three Westerns, Sierra (1950), starring Audie Murphy, one of many names he worked with (including fellow Universal contractee, Rock Hudson), Winchester '73 (1950), starring James Stewart and Shelley Winters, and Kansas Raiders (1951), in which he supported Murphy again, playing Kit Dalton and billed as "Tony Curtis.". Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed ), memorial page for Tony Curtis (3 Jun 1925–29 Sep 2010), Find a Grave Memorial no. Born Bernard Schwartz to Hungarian Jewish immigrants in New York, the future actor knew deprivation and experienced violence at the hands of his schizophrenic mother. Months after the passing of classic Hollywood actor Tony Curtis … For this story and more, pick up the latest issue of Closer magazine, on newsstands now. [citation needed], Curtis was married six times. Following his discharge from the Navy, Curtis attended City College of New York on the G.I. His contemporaries included Elaine Stritch, Harry Belafonte, Walter Matthau, Beatrice Arthur, and Rod Steiger. [16] Although Universal Pictures taught him fencing and riding, in keeping with the cinematic themes of the era, Curtis admitted he was at first interested only in girls and money. [4] The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his chilling portrayal of serial killer Albert DeSalvo. “He was one of the funniest people ever,” Allegra Curtis exclusively confides to Closer magazine in the latest issue, on newsstands now. LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Actor Tony Curtis was buried Monday with a melange of his favorite possessions -- a Stetson hat, an Armani scarf, driving gloves, … "I was very dedicated and devoted to Janet, and on top of my trade, but in her eyes that goldenness started to wear off. Star on the Walk of Fame–Motion Picture 6817 Hollywood Blvd. “He was incapacitated, what parent wouldn’t be? After his son's death, Curtis remarked that it was "a terrible thing when a father loses his son. Curtis had the lead in a TV series that did not last, McCoy (1975–76). [12] Curtis and Kaufmann had two daughters, Alexandra (born July 19, 1964) and Allegra (born July 11, 1966). I realized that whatever I was, I wasn't enough for Janet. (1963) and had an uncredited dual role in Paris When It Sizzles (1964). The couple divorced in 1962, and the following year Curtis married Christine Kaufmann, the 18-year-old German co-star of his latest film, Taras Bulba. Curtis is the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh.[5][6]. Throughout his life, Curtis enjoyed painting and, beginning in the early 1980s, painted as a second career. (1966) with George C. Scott; Drop Dead Darling (1966), a British comedy; Don't Make Waves (1967), a satire of beach life from director Alexander Mackendrick, with Claudia Cardinale; and On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... (1967), an Italian comedy with Monica Vitti. Curtis died at his Henderson home on September 29, 2010, of cardiac arrest. When Curtis died in 2010, they discovered that the actor had cut all five of his surviving children out of his will. “He worshipped his father and loved his mother, but I don’t believe he ever felt taken care of by his parents,” explains Kelly. “I remember his cologne, Vetiver by Guerlain Paris, and his midnight blue velvet blazers,” she tells Closer. Ben Curtis. In October 2008, Curtis's autobiography American Prince: A Memoir, was published. Inspired by Cary Grant's role in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power's in Crash Dive (1943), he joined the Pacific submarine force. Curtis and Leigh made one more film together Who Was That Lady? [50][51] Investor Kirk Kerkorian, actor Kirk Douglas, and singer Phyllis McGuire were among the honorary pallbearers. My body is functioning and everything is good. His brother Robert was institutionalized with the same mental illness. Nicholas Curtis also had a seizure about a month ago and was undergoing tests to determine the cause, Walsh said. He and Kaufman made their third movie together, the comedy Wild and Wonderful (1964). "[24], In 1994, his son Nicholas died of a heroin overdose at the age of 23. JOCKEY Ben Curtis astonished race fans as he was flung around the track like a rag doll in a sickening fall but miraculously managed to walk away. He returned to comedy for Monte Carlo or Bust! [4] He often collaborated with Edwards on later films. He had good roles in It Rained All Night the Day I Left (1980), Little Miss Marker (1980) and The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980) and was one of many stars in The Mirror Crack'd (1980). [33] In it, he describes 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. Even when the Hollywood icon fathered six children with his first three wives (he married six times), the actor reportedly chose to leave them all out of his testament five months before his passing in 2010. Lancaster asked for him again, to play scheming press agent Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), starring and co-produced by Lancaster. (1969), an all-star car race film in the vein of The Great Race. When Curtis was eight, he and his brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Trivia (11) Auditioned for the role of John Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely.[1][2]. In 1948, Curtis arrived in Hollywood at age 23. Tony Curtis A year after the famed actor’s death, The Tony Curtis Estate held an auction to sell off memorabilia and other items owned by the actor. On September 2, 1945, Curtis witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from his ship's signal bridge about a mile away.[14]. He later starred alongside Roger Moore in the ITC TV series The Persuaders!, with Curtis playing American millionaire Danny Wilde. On May 22, 2009, Curtis apologized to the BBC radio audience after he used three profanities in a six-minute interview with BBC presenter William Crawley. That hurt me a lot and broke my heart. Tony holds the couple's two Yorkshire terriers, Daphne and Josephine. Although his early film roles mainly took advantage of his … 59410614, citing Palm Memorial Park, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave . Can you make me look like an icon just one more time? “My father was happiest when he was either performing on a movie set or alone in his art studio painting or creating his assemblage works,” Kelly says. He is an actor and producer, known for Spy (2011), Echelon 8 (2009) and The Jack and Triumph Show (2015). Reason for Tony Curtis Reportedly Cutting Jamie Lee and 4 Other Children out of His Will. Curtis was one of many stars who had small roles in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). Yesenia and Ben join Curtis as he explores everything this area has to offer Park, Las Vegas Hall Fame. Houdini ( 1953 ), he was cast in support of Burt Lancaster who make... And I went to College t feed them often collaborated with Edwards later! ( 1958 ), an all-star car Race film in the comedy Wild and Wonderful 1964... 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