Oscar Profile #223: Tony Curtis

Born June 3, 1925 in The Bronx, New York, the eldest of three boys to Hungarian Jewish emigrants Helen and Emanuel Schwartz, Bernard Hershel Schwartz would rise to become one the screen’s best known actors after changing his name to Tony Curtis.

Young Bernie had a rough childhood. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the tailor shop. When he was 8, his parents placed him and his brother Julius in an orphanage for a month because they couldn’t afford to feed them. Five years later, Julius was hit by a truck and killed. His youngest brother, Robert, was institutionalized for schizophrenia. He went to the movies a lot and dreamed of becoming an actor. He joined the Navy during World War II and learned many skills. He then studied acting under the G.I. bill.

Curtis learned his craft in stage productions, making his film debut in a walk-on in 1949’s Criss Cross and had his first credited role in the same year’s City Across the River. His first starring role was in 1951’s The Prince Who Was Also a Thief opposite Piper Laurie, the year he married Janet Leigh after a highly publicized romance. He and Leigh had major successes with 1953’s Houdini and 1954’s The Black Shield of Falsworth as well as such later films as 1958’s The Vikings and The Perfect Furlough and 1960’s Who Was That Lady? .

The actor enjoyed his first major critical success with 1957’s Sweet Smell of Success and received equally strong notices for his roles in 1958’s Kings Go Forth and The Defiant Ones (his only Oscar nomination), 1959’s Some Like It Hot and Operation Petticoat and 1960’s Spartacus. He also had major hits with 1960’s The Rat Race, 1961’s The Great Imposter and The Outsider, 1963’s The List of Adrian Messenger and Captain Newman, M.D. , 1964’s Goodbye Charlie and Sex and the Single Girl and 1965’s The Great Race. In some of these he was the sole star, in others he had an equally strong female lead such as Debbie Reynolds or Natalie Wood and in still others he had an equally strong male co-star such as Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck or Henry Fonda. He had his last major success as the titled killer in 1968’s The Boston Strangler after which he drifted into TV work and alternately played supporting roles in films made for both TV and the big screen that kept in the public eye for the remainder of his life.

Curtis had two daughters with Janet Leigh including the well-known actress, Jamie Lee Curtis. After their 1962 divorce, he married five more times and had four more children. His last role was as a man fittingly named Mr. Schwartz in the little seen 2008 film, David & Fatima, about the Jerusalem set romance between a Jewish boy and a Palestinian girl. He was eighth billed.

Tony Curtis died on September 29, 2010 at the age of 85.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957), directed by Alexander Mackendrick

Curtis’s first on-screen appearance was a walk-on in the 1949 Burt Lancaster starrer, Criss Cross. In 1956 he played Lancaster’s brother in Trapeze and the following year he had critics and audiences alike singing his praises as the unscrupulous press agent who acts as powerful but unethical columnist Lancaster’s flunky in Sweet Smell of Success.

Lancaster won a BAFTA award for Best Foreign Actor. He was also nominated for a Golden Laurel for Best Dramatic Actor, losing to Marlon Brando in The Young Lions.

THE DEFIANT ONES (1958), directed by Stanley Kramer

Curtis and Sidney Poitier were both nominated for Best Actor Oscars for their superb portrayals of escaped convicts who must overcome their prejudices in order to avoid capture.

The film was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture, winning for Best Original Screenplay and Black-and-White Cinematography.

Poitier received equal star billing with Curtis at his insistence but years later when the film was shown on network TV, Curtis had a fit over the then bigger star Poitier being given top billing for the broadcast.

SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959), directed by Billy Wilder

Often thought of as Hollywood’s funniest movie, Curtis and Jack Lemmon are terrific together as musicians on the lam from Chicago gangsters. Their manner of hiding is to disguise themselves as women and join an all-girl band set to perform in Miami. Curtis actually plays three roles, the male musician, the female musician and a dandy who talks Cary Grant in order to woo band singer and banjo player Marilyn Monroe.

Curtis was quickly paired with the real Cary Grant in his next film, another box office hit called Operation Petticoat, another box office hit.

THE OUTSIDER (1961), directed by Delbert Mann

Curtis gave what many consider his finest performance as Native American Ira Hayes who was one of the six marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. Ignored by most of his fellow soldiers, he developed a strong bond with fellow marine James Franciscus who was later killed in action.

Curtis won raves for his soulful depiction of the Pima Indian’s life up to and including his death from alcoholism. He was nominated for a Golden Laurel for Best Actor but lost to Paul Newman in The Hustler.

THE BOSTON STRANGLER (1968), directed by Richard Fleischer

Curtis had his most unusual role as real-life Boston strangler Albert De Salvo who strangled thirteen women in their homes in 1962. The manhunt is headed by Henry Fonda, George Kennedy and Murray Hamilton. Hurd Hatfield, Leora Dana and James Brolin are featured.

Curtis was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.