Tony Curtis
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Here you can learn about Tony Curtis’ career and private life facts, read the latest news, find all the awards he has won and watch photos and videos.
PERSONAL DATA OF TONY CURTIS
Born in: NEW YORK (USA)
Born on: 03/06/1925
He dies at: HENDERSON, Las Vegas, Nevada (USA)
He dies on: 29/09/2010
BIOGRAPHY OF TONY CURTIS
Actor. Son of the Hungarian tailor Emanuel Schwartz and his wife Helen, he grew up on the streets of the Bronx and soon learned to handle himself in any situation and to take care of himself and his younger brother Julius. The family is very poor and the parents, unable to provide for the two children, decide to entrust them to the care of the state, but a few weeks later they retrace their steps by claiming custody of the two children who, in the meantime, have become inseparable. In 1938, however, Julius dies hit by a truck and after this tragedy the parents are convinced that their son cannot spend the days on the street, but must have a school education. He rebels and in 1942 he enlisted in the Marines where he made his first appearances on stage. Upon his return home, he decides to become an actor and in 1947 he began studying Dramatic Art in New York, where he made his debut in theaters under the pseudonym of James Curtis. The turning point comes thanks to the meeting with the young theatrical agent Joyce Selznick, granddaughter of the famous producer, who gets him a seven-year contract with Universal. In 1949, after changing his name to Tony Curtis, he made his big screen debut in “How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border”, alongside Jerry Lewis and Janet Leigh who two years later became his first wife. In the same year, director Robert Siodmak chooses him to interpret “Double Game” alongside Burt Lancaster, a film full of violence that reaped a great success with audiences and which earned the young actor a $ 100 a week contract. He is noted in the western “Sierra” by Alfred E. Green and in “Winchester ’73” by Anthony Mann (both from 1950), but his first leading role only comes in 1953 with George Marshall’s “Il Mago Houdini” in which acts alongside his wife. In “Trapezio” (1956), his interpretation alongside a breathtaking Gina Lollobrigida forces him to the attention of the Italian public. The real success, however, comes only at the end of the fifties when, dissatisfied with the excessive power of the Studios, which were able to direct and decide the careers of their actors, he began a fruitful collaboration with Blake Edwards, who saw him interpret many comedies: from ” Licentiate in Paris “(1958) to” Operation petticoat “, where he is next to Cary Grant, up to the unforgettable” La grande corsa “(1964). Meanwhile, in 1958 Stanley Kramer chose him for the drama “The Mud Wall” which earned him a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The consecration comes the following year with Billy Wilder’s masterpiece “Some Like It Hot” in which disguised as a woman, he combines an irresistible Jack Lemmon and a splendid Marilyn Monroe. In 1960 he starred opposite Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” and, in 1968, Richard Fleischer’s “Boston Strangler” earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Actor. But right at this moment he decides to leave the big screen to devote himself to television: the role of the rich American playboy Danny Wilde, played in the telefilm “Beware of those two” alongside Roger Moore, gives him popularity. He returns to the cinema only in 1976 when he plays “The last fires” by Elia Kazan alongside Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum and Jeanne Moreau and from then on he allows himself more and more rare appearances as in “And I play the girl” by Walter Bernstein (1980), Henry Helman’s “Something Strange in the Family” (1983), Nicolas Roeg’s “The Lady in White” and Thomas Brasch’s “Return to Berlin” (1988). In 1994 he had a heart attack and had to be operated on urgently and had a bypass applied. From that moment he retired to his home in Las Vegas where he devoted himself to painting, without ever forgetting his passion for acting and carving out small roles in some films such as “Hero for families” by Arnold Schwarzenegger (1995) and in the musical- remake of “Some Like It Hot”. In 2009 he published his autobiography in which he revealed that he had also had a relationship with Monroe. In fact, his love life is very intense. After his marriage to Janet Leigh, with whom he has two daughters, actress Jamie Lee and Kelly, he gets married five more times. From his second wife, the Austrian actress Christine Kaufmann, married in 1963, he has two daughters, Alexandra and Allegra, while Nicholas (who died in 1994 of a heroin overdose) and Benjamin were born from the marriage with Leslie Allen, which took place in 1968. In 1984 he married the actress Andrea Savio from whom he divorced in 1992 to get married the following year with Lisa Deutsch, but their marriage lasted only a year. In 1998 he married Jill Vandenberg, 45 years younger than him, who remained with him until his death at the age of 85 of heart failure at his home in Nevada.
THE MOST RECENT FILMS BY TONY CURTIS
HERO FOR FAMILIES (CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT)
Role: Actor
Year: 1995
THE IMMORTALS
Role: Actor
Year: 1995
I’M GOING TO LIVE IN NEW YORK (NAKE)
Role: Actor
Year: 1995
TARZAN IN MANHATTAN
Role: Actor
Year: 1989 Go to the complete Filmography
THE MOST RECURRING GENRES OF TONY CURTIS
Comedy: 28% Drama: 20% Adventure: 14% Yellow: 5%
THE STATISTICS OF TONY CURTIS ON COMINGSOON.IT
3 News
RECENT ROLES PLAYED BY TONY CURTIS
| Movie | Role |
|---|---|
HERO FOR FAMILIES | Alexander Yardley |
… |
