I wrote this tribute to Tim Curry after I found out about his passing today:
I know Tim Curry was much more than his role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it’s the role that I most associate him with.
I believe I first encountered TRHPS once I departed my smallish hometown to attend university in 1985 to finish my last two years of my bachelors degree.
There I encountered other students (most of them pursuing degrees in the creative arts) that shared some of my interests (Prince, Stevie Nicks, etc.), but also broadened my exposure to other artists and works of art I hadn’t experienced before. TRHPS definitely fell into this latter category.
I remember on weekends, we’d sometimes drive to the legendary midnight screenings in Oklahoma City. As a kid who never felt “cool” or “edgy” in high school, it meant something to me to be included with my college friends who all seemed to be more hip than I was, even if I sometimes suffered from imposter syndrome.
I wasn’t completely out-of-the-closet then (that was still many, many years away). But this gave me a way to be somewhere in between. TRHPS was a safe place - no need to identify your sexual orientation. No need to explain or try to fit into larger societal expectations.
Sometimes I might have temporarily dyed my hair purple for the night. Sometimes if I had gone home for the weekend, my friends would pick me up at my childhood home on the way to the cineplex. I know my poor, conservative parents were perplexed by my odd outfit and colored hair, but to their benefit, they kept their comments to a minimum.
So thanks, Tim Curry. Thank you for Dr. Frank-N-Furter and so many roles across a vast career that both helped people escape their worries for a couple hours and sometimes even catch a glimpse of parts of themselves that they aren’t quite brave enough to claim, just yet.
