Tim Curry died on August 25 at the age of 80, on the same day and at the same age as Dolly Parton, leaving the entertainment world mourning the loss of two icons in a single devastating day. In the months before his death, Curry had spoken openly about his health, his stroke, his lack of fear about dying, and, in one particularly memorable interview, his experience working alongside Donald Trump.
Curry, of course, played the Plaza Hotel's snooty concierge in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, a role that put him in close proximity to Trump, who at the time owned the Plaza and famously engineered a brief cameo in the film. Director Chris Columbus has since said he wishes he could cut Trump's seven-second appearance entirely but fears what would happen to him if he did.
Curry, speaking to The Guardian in October 2025, had his own recollections of dealing with Trump on set. At the time of filming, Trump was tabloid front-page fodder, his relationship with then-girlfriend Marla Maples the subject of enormous media attention. According to Curry, Trump's primary concern on the film set was not the movie itself.
He was also asked, in that same final interview, what he wanted the world to take from his life. His answer was entirely in keeping with the man he had always been: "He took it on the chin."
Curry had spoken extensively in his final public appearance on CBS Sunday Morning about his health following the major stroke he suffered in 2012, which left him in a wheelchair and required him to relearn how to speak. He said he did not fear death, describing it as something he wanted to "earn the privilege of." He was not, he said, "galloping toward it," but he was not afraid of it either.
"I think I might very well embrace it," he told the interviewer.
His manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz confirmed his passing in a statement describing him as someone whose "curious, expansive mind and generous, gentle heart remained open and filled with anticipation until his final breath."
Curry's career spanned five decades and an extraordinary range: Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pennywise the clown in the 1990 IT, Wadsworth in Clue, Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island, King Arthur on Broadway in Spamalot, and the Lord of Darkness in Ridley Scott's Legend. He earned three Tony Award nominations and became one of the most distinctive voices in animation and video games.
He never married and had no children. He was confined to a wheelchair for the final years of his life but continued making public appearances, his last coming at the Rocky Horror 50th anniversary celebrations in late 2025, where he arrived to a standing ovation.
As for his brutal take on working with Trump, shared just months before his death: "He was very anxious to find Chris Columbus, the director. He said, 'I've got to get Marla to meet Chris Columbus because she's a brilliant actress.' And I thought, 'Yeah, I'm sure.'"
