Tim Curry Says Rocky Horror Was Originally a ‘Failure’ in Rare Interview

Tim Curry is opening up about The Rocky Horror Picture Show phenomenon, 50 years after the film premiered.

Curry, 78, originated the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1973 stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk award for outstanding actor in a musical) and reprised the role in the 1975 film version that has since become a cult favorite on the midnight movie circuit.

In a rare interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Curry — who now lives with paralysis caused by a stroke — said of his Rocky Horror character: “He’s a tough guy. And he expects the world to revolve around him.”

Curry added that fans have approached him about how liberating the film, and his character in particular, were to see.

“I’ve had people who left [the film] thinking they would stay the stuff they had always wanted to say and did,” he told CBS.

Asked if he thought the film gave people permission to be who they really are, Curry answered, “I think so.”

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But when it was first released, the film flopped, Curry noted.

“It died a death. It was a failure. And I was crushed…I thought that it might well be [the end of my movie career]. But I was tougher than that,” he said.

Midnight showings of the film, however, picked up steam, cementing its cult status as it began to be shown year after year to audiences who brought props and acted out certain scenes in front of the screen.

“For your first movie to run for 50 years is crazy,” Curry added of the film’s continued success, all these years later.

Indeed, while it cost a little under $1 million to make, music producer Lou Adler (who first brought the stage musical to the U.S.) told CBS it likely grossed about $166 million.

Curry added that the message of the film is to “be who you want to be — and have the b—-s to do it.”

Earlier this year, Curry spoke about the film in the documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, sharing how he set the tone when the stage show debuted in London in the 1970s.

“It was a really good time. It was very creative and I remember reaching a crisis fairly early on because I would snap out an order to somebody and they wouldn’t quite jump to it,” Curry remembered.

“And I stopped and sort of had a rather small tantrum and said, ‘Look I can’t be powerful if you don’t accept the power and at least cringe a little.’ So that took care of that pretty quickly.”