Portlanders remember actor Tim Curry at Clinton Street Theater

For many people, actor Tim Curry was synonymous with the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” He originated the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter on stage in London in 1973, before bringing it stateside to the big screen in 1975. Three years later, Portland’s Clinton Street Theater started showing weekly screenings of the cult classic and has not missed a Saturday showing since 1978.

The theater held an impromptu memorial for Curry on Wednesday, Aug. 26, just hours after his death was announced. More than a hundred fans brought flowers, dressed in drag and shared stories about the actor’s impact on them.

“I just think that we have to honor someone who appreciated the weird, the wonderful, the kooky, the crazy”, said Sylvan Kobus, who attended the memorial.

The evening wrapped up with a short montage of clips, ending with the last song from the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” in which Curry sings: “‘Cause I’ve seen, oh, blue skies through the tears / In my eyes / And I realise, I’m going home.”

OPB’s “All Things Considered” host Crystal Ligori attended the memorial and spoke with those who gathered to honor Curry’s legacy.

Sylvan Kobus

As someone of the queer community, it just means a lot that so many other people are here. As someone who has experienced Tim Curry’s legacy, I just think that we have to honor someone who appreciated the weird, the wonderful, the kooky, the crazy. As a younger generation, [we’re] opening up a lot more to being ourselves, I think it’s the perfect opportunity to seize moments like this as not only a moment of remembrance but a moment of empowerment because remembering can be power too and we can just learn to appreciate how strange and awesome we are.

Anna Westin

He’s had a special place in my heart since I was 11 years old. I’m from a really small town and he was the first person I think I saw myself in, in some way. He just felt so true in “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and it felt like I was able to see myself fully exist in a different way. I knew that if I came tonight, there would be a lot of other people feeling the same way that I was feeling and wanting to celebrate him and cry about it. And be ourselves, be true.

Richard Arnold

I was the original Brad Majors in the original Clinton Street Cabaret when we started this whole thing over 30 years ago. A lot of actors adapt their own personalities into stuff, but for Tim, he really just became a different person every time. It was like, Pennywise wasn’t Frank-N-Furter. And doing the voiceover for “FernGully” wasn’t the same as doing “Legend.” There are some performers, like Dolly Parton also, that you just don’t think that they would pass — you just sort of have this illusion that they’re going to live forever.

Amanda Craft

I think it’s important to connect with the community, especially in times like we’re in right now. Who doesn’t remember being 16 doing the “Time Warp” with their best friends at the Clinton Street Theater? Personally, just taking time to have this moment of remembrance is really important. [Curry was] so authentically himself and taking delight in the comedy of just being weird and silly and having that nonconformist personality. I love him so much for that.

Nathan Picklesimer

Tim Curry has always just been such a cultural presence in a very positive way. I think there’s a whole community that’s rallied around that and has stood behind that across the decades. At Clinton Street Theater, this is the longest-running Rocky Horror Picture Show in the U.S. I believe. My favorite Tim Curry movie is probably “Clue.” It’s a classic. He just embodies so many different personalities in so many different ways and brings such a life to the screen and owned the show in his own way.

Thom Hilton

When Tim was on screen, you didn’t need bells and whistles. He alone was everything a movie could ever want. When I heard we lost him, I felt I lost my friend. Four days ago, I hosted my 87th live performance of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” As we all know, Rocky Horror isn’t a movie. It’s a conversation. That’s 87 nights that I was in dialogue with Tim. Think about spending 87 nights with someone. That’s the foundation of a life-changing relationship.

It’s hard to not think of Tim Curry being synonymous with Frank-N-Furter. They are one. Without his performance, there is no Rocky Horror. Tim gave us all an immortal friend and icon in Frank. A portrayal so committed, so honest of someone who left home to find himself, who realized that in the liberation and celebration of the self, he could bring freedom and pleasure to others. Yet in those final moments of “I’m Going Home,” he reveals that every day beneath the excess, he still feels the hollowness of being misunderstood. It’s through that song that we see him completely. Curry’s head thrown back, body and spirit wide open, hopeful for another chance that he can finally build the community that fulfills him.