Inside Tim Curry’s stroke that left him paralyzed and struggling to speak — as actor dies at 80
Legendary actor Tim Curry, known for playing unforgettable oddballs like Dr. Frank-N-Furter in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” died late Tuesday at his Los Angeles home at age 80
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No foul play is suspected, law enforcement sources told TMZ, which broke the news Wednesday.
Curry’s official cause of death has not been revealed.
The Emmy Award winner, however, had battled serious health problems for more than a decade after suffering a major stroke that left him with lasting mobility and speech issues.
As fans mourn the British-born actor and singer — whose career spanned film, television and stage — here’s a look back at the health battles he faced throughout his life.
A near-fatal stroke
In July 2012, Curry was getting a massage when he suffered a major stroke. He later revealed in his memoir, “Vagabond,” released last year, that he initially didn’t realize what had happened.
The three-time Tony nominee recalled feeling “a little out of sorts,” but didn’t think he needed medical attention. His massage therapist disagreed and called 911 — a decision that Curry believed saved his life.
“I probably owe my life to the fact that he ignored me, went with his instinct and called an ambulance,” Curry wrote. He was 66 at the time.
The actor — who delighted and terrified fans as Pennywise in the 1990 Stephen King miniseries “IT” — recalled that paramedics became alarmed after checking his vital signs and rushed him to the nearest hospital.
Curry was sedated before undergoing an emergency craniectomy, a life-saving procedure in which doctors remove part of the skull to give a dangerously swollen brain room to expand and relieve pressure.
“It turned out that my brain was inflamed enough, or filled with enough blood that bone from my skull had to be removed and implanted into my abdomen to keep my brain, and me, alive,” he wrote. “When I emerged from the hospital, I had to wear a sort of protective helmet as my brain was literally exposed to the elements.”
The “Clue” star learned after the surgery that he had suffered a major ischemic stroke caused by two blood clots that blocked blood flow and oxygen to his brain.
“After regaining consciousness, I could comprehend words but they did not register or settle without effort. Life was exceedingly dull, monotonous, and uncertain for a long while,” Curry wrote.
“My skull had been smashed in to save my life,” he continued. “That’s plenty to process. I needed the rest and slept a lot.”
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Life after the stroke
Curry spent months in the hospital after the stroke, which struck the right hemisphere of his brain and left the left side of his body paralyzed.
“I don’t know when the paralysis set in; initially it just felt very strange that the left side of my body had gone numb,” he remembered in “Vagabond.”
The health crisis also affected his short-term memory and temporarily robbed him of his ability to speak.
“That part was exceptionally frustrating, because thoughts were forming again, but articulating them was such a monumental stretch,” he recalled. “Being unable to string together and clearly deliver a sentence was absolute misery for somebody who values words and conversation as much as I do.”
Curry later entered a rehabilitation center, “where the real exercises began: to retrieve my ability to speak clearly, to work on smiling and facial expressions, and to try using my hand and adapting to my new normal.”
The stroke ultimately left Curry reliant on a wheelchair and prompted him to shift much of his work toward voice acting.
Last year, he offered a rare glimpse into his condition when he appeared in his wheelchair alongside his “Rocky Horror Picture Show” co-stars at a screening marking the horror musical’s 50th anniversary.
“I still can’t walk, which is why I’m in this silly chair, and that’s very limiting. So I won’t be singing and I won’t be dancing very soon. I still have real problems with my left leg,” Curry told the audience.
Looking back at Curry’s health
Curry hadn’t publicly disclosed other major health problems prior to his 2012 stroke — but he was a heavy cigarette smoker during his acting career. He was famously photographed chain-smoking in full clown makeup between takes on “IT.”
The day before his stroke, he had smoked three packs of Marlboro Reds.
“I won’t be doing that again!” he told The Guardian last year. The health scare prompted him to quit smoking.
Cigarette smoking is considered one of the top modifiable risk factors for stroke, with people who smoke a pack a day facing up to a sixfold higher risk of having a stroke compared with nonsmokers.
Curry also spoke openly about his past use of substances, including cocaine and hashish. Later, he said alcohol became a crutch, leading him to spend time in rehab to get his drinking under control.
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Still, the actor rejected the label of alcoholic.
“I don’t think I ever quite qualified, really,” Curry told The Guardian.
