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Wow, we're losing all the old timers. So sad.
My uncle was best friends with Tony before he left for Hollywood.
I saw TC at a Stars of Yesterday type event about 3 years ago. The poor man had really gone downhill - not sure if it was Alzheimer's or result of a stroke, but he was not at all intelligible. Sad end for him. Some Like It Hot was probably one of the funniest movies of all time.
RIP, Mr. Curtis.
I remember seeing Tony in "Taras Bulba" with Yul Brynner (1962). My dad was late in picking up me and my brothers, so we say thru it a couple times and got sick on popcorn and candy.
I think Tony met his second wife Christine Kaufman while making this movie.
He was handsome in his day (pretty eyes), but the last few years looked very bad. I saw him on a talk show about a year ago and he looked awful.
I will miss him very much. He is a wonderful example of becoming a success after the most tragic of childhoods. His original accent was more Bronx than Brooklyn; there are very subtle differences, but it was really funny to hear in that "Son of Ali Baba" movie. He did become an excellent actor, who could do both dramatic and comedic roles, and who accumulated a resume of great films.
Here's a bit from his bio at imdb that describes his early years. Yes, I knew he was born in the Bronx and as sophisticated and talented as he became, Bernie Schwartz was always there underneath.
"Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, the son of Emanuel Schwartz and his wife, Helen Klein. His parents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Mátészalka, Hungary. Hungarian was Curtis' only language until he was five or six, postponing his schooling. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop — the parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother had once made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. Curtis said, "When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness which also affected his brother Robert and led to Robert's institutionalization. When Curtis was eight, he and his younger brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck. Curtis attended Seward Park High School.
During World War II, Curtis joined the United States Navy, inspired by watching Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943). He served aboard USS Proteus, a submarine tender, and on September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away. Following his discharge, Curtis attended City College of New York under the G.I. Bill and studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator, along with Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau, and Rod Steiger. He was discovered by a talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. Curtis claims it was because he "was the handsomest of the boys." Arriving in Hollywood in 1948 at age 23, he was placed under contract at Universal Pictures and changed his name to Tony Curtis, taking his first name from the novel Anthony Adverse and his last name from "Kurtz", a surname from his mother's family. Although the studio taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admits he was at first only interested in girls and money."
Legendary TV Show Creator Stephen J. Cannell Has Died at 69
Published: October 1, 2010
A prolific and legendary TV show producer, writer, and creator has died. Stephen J. Cannell passed away in Los Angeles last night from complications associated with melanoma. He was just 69 years old.
Cannell grew up in Pasadena, California, and was raised by parents who owned a chain of furniture stores. Despite struggling with dyslexia, he graduated from the University of Oregon in 1964 with a degree in journalism. He worked in the family business for four years after college, until he sold a script to Universal Studios for the It Takes a Thief series. It was the beginning of a very long association with the studio.
Soonafter, he was writing for shows like Ironside and Columbo and became a story editor Adam-12 in its fourth season. He went on to create or co-create more than 30 TV series, script more than 450 episodes, and produce or executive produce more than 1,500 hours of television.
His most popular shows include The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings, and The Commish. He also sometimes appeared on-screen, most recently on ABC’s Castle.
By the turn of the century, Cannell turned his attention to writing novels and authored sixteen of them. Many people recognized Cannell because of the familiar tag at the end of his shows which showed him typing, grabbing the page, and throwing it in the air. He continued to use an IBM typewriter throughout his career and would use his computer for research.
Cannell married his high school sweetheart, Marcia, and they had four children together. Their eldest son passed away tragically in 1981. Cannell won many awards over his career and was an advocate for those with dyslexia and other learning challenges.”
The shows of my youth. I remember reading a long time ago that he had dyslexia, & that made me really admire his accomplishments, seeing that they had to do with writing.
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Originally Posted by Miss Scarlet;4074664;