Tim Curry Dies at 80 ..

The wave of celebrity deaths continues, and especially this week, which has brought a pretty notorious run of losses.

Tim Curry, the acclaimed English actor whose career spanned theater, film, television, and voice work, has died at 80, according to multiple reports.

A unique performer, very hard to pin down, Curry became a defining figure in cult entertainment through his fearless embrace of theatricality, camp, and genre. His roles in “Home Alone 2,” “Annie,” “Clue,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Legend” and plenty of others showed off that rare Curry gift for playing the outrageous completely straight.

His look was also unique. Those sharp features, piercing eyes and highly expressive face. Curry could appear glamorous, sinister, ridiculous all at once.

His most enduring legacy, of course, is “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975). As Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Curry became the face of a movie that would go on to define midnight cinema and generations of outsiders. He was funny, menacing and completely committed to the bit.

Pennywise in the 1990 “It” miniseries became another defining performance, while “Clue” remains perhaps the purest example of just how good Curry was at controlled comic chaos. His voice work gave us Nigel in “The Wild Thornberrys,” Hexxus in “FernGully” and Emperor Palpatine in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”

Curry was a one-of-a-kind performer, and that’s what makes his death hit particularly hard. Even after his devastating stroke in 2012, he retained the wit and warmth that made him so compelling in interviews.

Here is a performer that could elevate almost anything, whether the material called for prestige, horror, camp or outright silliness. The best compliment you can give him is that he gave generations of viewers something to laugh at, fear, sing along with and love. Not many actors can say they’ve done all of that.