Tim Curry appeared weak during a performance in Los Angeles in April, four months before his death on Tuesday at the age of 80.
Curry found fame in 1975 as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which quickly made him an icon, especially among the LBGTQ community.
But as his fame grew, the actor, who moved to LA in 1988, never forgot his British roots.
And in what turned out to be one of his last public outings, he enjoyed a trip to a local shop that specialized in food and tasty treats loved by the British.
With the help of a caregiver, Curry, who was in a wheelchair, spent time at the Friar Tuck Shoppe next to the popular Robin Hood British Pub in Sherman Oaks.
The star carried a colorful floral bag from London department store Harrods, in which he could make his purchases.
Tim Curry, who died on Tuesday aged 80, appeared frail during a rare public outing in April this year after a near-fatal stroke in 2012 left him in a wheelchair.
With the help of a caregiver, Curry spent time at the Friar Tuck Shoppe, which specializes in British food and tasty treats in LA’s Sherman Oaks neighborhood.
Curry found fame in 1975 as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which quickly made him an icon, especially among the LBGTQ community
The Daily Mail has reached out to Curry’s rep for comment.
Tributes poured in following news of his death, including a message from his Clue co-star Michael McKean, who gave insight into Curry’s final days.
“My last conversation with Tim Curry was about life, love and laughter,” McKean said.
“The grim physical condition he was in is now over, a blessing,” he added. “Our blessing was having Tim Curry in our lives. RIP, my friend.”
Another of his Clue co-stars, Lesley Ann Warren, also paid a sweet tribute.
“My dear companion in crime, the brilliant, hilarious, hysterically funny magician of artistry has left us,” she said.
‘What an incredible joy to have shared a sound stage with him and to be exposed to such a master talent. I adored him. Bless his wild and inspired soul. I love you Tim.’
As his fame grew, the actor, who moved to LA in 1988, never forgot his British roots
While shopping in April, he had a colorful flower bag from the London department store Harrods in which he could make his purchases.
“My last conversation with Tim Curry was about life, love and laughter,” his Clue co-star Michael McKean shared after news of the actor’s death broke. “The grim physical condition he was in is now over, a blessing,” he added
No foul play is suspected in Curry’s death.
Last year, the Home Alone 2: Lost In New York star gave a candid account of his massive stroke, which happened while he was getting a massage.
“It was so strange,” Curry told CBS on Sunday morning in October 2025. “I was getting a massage and the guy giving me a massage said, ‘I’m worried about you, I think we need to call a doctor.’
“I felt fine, I didn’t have any symptoms that I was aware of, but he had obviously noticed some.”
Curry continued, “He called 911 and an ambulance came and they carried me down the stairs of my house on a stretcher, put me in an ambulance and gave me morphine, which was interesting. I had no pain.
‘I was very nervous because I didn’t know what was going on. They didn’t know I had a stroke, and I didn’t know either.”
He said that when doctors told him he had had a stroke, he “immediately” thought of his father, James Curry.
His father suffered a stroke in 1958 at the age of 49 and died a few weeks later from complications of pneumonia. Curry was about 12 years old at the time.
“I knew that a lot of people don’t survive strokes, and that he was an exception, and so I was scared,” he recalled on the CBS show.
Despite his heavy-lidded eyes and the general impact of the stroke on his health, Curry maintained a dapper elan in a stylish stripped-down button-up shirt.
Curry said he had brain surgery after his stroke and was then in the hospital for rehabilitation for “about a month.”
“I had to learn to talk again, which was very strange,” he said. ‘I hated not being able to talk, because I talk a lot. I have to be told to keep quiet a lot. I love words, I love communicating.’
The star began his career in theater in London’s West End, joining the cast of the musical Hair at the age of 22 and remaining there for two years from 1968 to 1969.
Even after finding fame, he continued to appear on stage. On Broadway, he earned three Tony Award nominations for playing Mozart in Amadeus in 1981 and for the musicals My Favorite Year in 1992 and Eric Idle’s Spamalot in 2005.
His big-screen roles included 1990’s The Hunt for Red October, 1993’s The Three Musketeers and 1996’s Muppet Treasure Island, along with the 2000 big-screen reboot of Charlie’s Angels and 2001’s Scary Movie 2.
