Tim Curry is one of my all-time favorite actors.
I first saw him in, of course, “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
One of my mom’s friends was taking a sociology class and had to watch several movies.
She asked my mom and dad if I could attend with her and some other high school church friends.
One of my friends, college-aged, had been to the movie, so he knew the list of props we would need to participate.
I can’t say how many times I saw “Rocky Horror” in college, but I do own the audience-participation album and the official-soundtrack album.
Mr. Curry has written about his life, “Vagabond: A Memoir.”
He started his life as the child of a military man, traveling with his family from post to post.
He talks about his years in boarding school and college as well as that moment he first stepped on stage.
He has a chapter for each of his film hits: “Hair,” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Amadeus,” “Annie,” “Legend,” “Clue,” “Muppets” and his role as Pennywise in “It” in the 1990s.
He also discusses “Spamalot” and his voice acting.
I am one of those people he mentions in his chapter on “Clue.”
I wanted to see it so bad when it came out during my junior year of college but didn’t make it to the movies.
I was so excited during my summer between junior year and senior year when the local video rental store had it on the shelf.
I checked it out every weekend that summer.
I loved it so much that a friend bought me the VHS tape.
When DVDs came out, a friend replaced my heavily worn VHS tape with a DVD.
He talks about the physical demands the role put him through as well as the fact that it now has achieved a cult-like following similar to “Rocky Horror.”
I still watch it on a semi-regular basis.
His role as Pennywise in “It,” Darkness in “Legend” and as “Billy Flynn” in “Criminal Minds” showed how he could really tap into the scary side and portray evil incarnate.
When my son was in college, he brought home his newest Xbox game, “Dragon Age.”
I’m watching him play it, and I hear Tim Curry’s voice coming out of his video game.
His voice acting is an even bigger list of credits than his films.
This book was a stroll down memory lane of movies I’ve watched over the years and loved (“Clue”) as well as the ones that gave me nightmares for a very long time (“It”).
Mr. Curry has lived a vagabond’s life traveling around the world entertaining people.
This book gives you a glimpse of his works and the people he called friends and co-workers.
And unlike his ending soliloquy in “Clue,” you will not say “Too Late” to his “To make a long story short …”
Susan McKinney is the librarian at the St. Joseph Township-Swearingen Memorial Library. She received her master’s in library science from the University of Illinois. She is an avid reader and enjoys mystery, suspense, fantasy and action novels.
