My body is functioning and everything is good. In addition to inheriting her parents’ talent and good looks, she also picked up her famous father’s addictive tendencies. “I knew my dad had an issue because I had an issue and he and I shared drugs,” she revealed. Jamie Lee is the daughter of Tony Curtis and his first wife, "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh, who died in 2004. Why Jamie Lee Curtis' Father Cut Her and 4 Other Children out of His Will. It was followed by the publication of his next book, The Making of Some Like it Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie (2009). She is the sister of actress Kelly Curtis and the half-sister of actress and businessperson Allegra Curtis. Jamie Lee Curtis said one last goodbye to her father Tony Curtis today, placing a flower on the famous actor's casket during his funeral in Las Vegas. A surrealist, Curtis claimed Van Gogh, [Paul] Matisse, Picasso, and Magritte as influences. [36] Curtis developed a heavy cocaine addiction in 1974 while filming Lepke, at a time when his stardom had declined considerably and he was being offered few film roles. “I knew my dad had an issue because I … In 1994, a mural featuring his likeness, painted by the artist George Sportelli, was unveiled on the Sunset Boulevard overpass of the Hollywood Freeway Highway 101 in Los Angeles. I was losing control, I was powerless over the stuff, my life was unmanageable, my personality would change in weird ways. On television, he continued to make occasional guest appearances (sometimes playing fictional versions of himself) into the mid-2000s. In 1948, Curtis arrived in Hollywood at age 23. "[24], According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Curtis, who had a problem with alcoholism and drug abuse, went through the treatment center of the Betty Ford Clinic in the mid-1980s, which was successful for him. "Jamie and my father, Tony Curtis, always competed to see who could be more notorious," Jamie Lee's step-sister Allegra revealed in her book "Me and My Father… His youngest brother Robert was institutionalized with the same mental illness. The rumors about Jamie Lee is that she's a... hermaphrodite. However, when they chose to get married, studio executives spent three days trying to talk him out of it, telling him he would be "poisoning himself at the box office." His remains were interred at Palm Memorial Park Cemetery in Henderson, Nevada, on October 4, 2010. Jamie Lee Curtis' guest arc in NCIS Season 9 was as controversial as it was crucial, leaving fans polarized regarding Dr. Samantha Ryan and her relationship, professional and otherwise, with Leroy Jethro Gibbs. [38] He underwent heart bypass surgery in 1994, after suffering a heart attack. Once upon a time, Jamie Lee Curtis was smitten by the singer from Spinal Tap. It was a hit at the box office and Curtis was now established. [17] Response from the critics and public was excellent. For a change of pace he did a musical, So This Is Paris (1955), then it was back to more typical fare: Six Bridges to Cross (1955), as a bank robber; The Purple Mask (1955), a swashbuckler; The Square Jungle (1955), a boxing film. Jamie Lee Curtis is honoring her late father by remembering one of his great works. Later, Curtis co-starred as a casino owner in the Robert Urich 1978-1981 ABC series Vega$ and was in The Users (1978). Post was not sent - check your email addresses! The following year, on February 28, 1993, he married Lisa Deutsch. However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely.[1][2]. The sources of the rumors? In the interview, Jamie reveals that there was a period where she and Tony would share drugs. It didn’t last that long. Curtis gave an Oscar-nominated performance as a bigoted white escaped convict chained to a black man, Sidney Poitier. Lancaster asked for him again, to play scheming press agent Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), starring and co-produced by Lancaster. He was one of the villains in The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) and had the title role in the gangster film Lepke (1975). [22] "The age gap doesn't bother us. “Now I knew someone knew. His focus remained on comedies: Goodbye Charlie (1964), with Debbie Reynolds; Sex and the Single Girl (1964), with Natalie Wood; The Great Race (1965), with Wood and Lemmon for Blake Edwards — the most expensive comedy film up till that time, but popular; Boeing Boeing (1965) a sex farce with Jerry Lewis; Not with My Wife, You Don't! What can we expect from her in the coming season? They met in a restaurant in 1993 and married on November 6, 1998. Annie Guest is an American dance instructor and the adopted daughter of the famous actress Jamie Lee Curtis. But Allegra says five of Tony's grandkids got a total of just $30,000 each, and Jamie Lee's two children got nothing. His mother made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life on February 9, 1956, hosted by Groucho Marx. In his second film, City Across the River (also in 1949), he was credited as "Anthony Curtis". On September 2, 1945, Curtis witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from his ship's signal bridge about a mile away.[13]. It was always known to close friends of the family that Jamie Lee Curtis and her father, Tony Curtis, were never close. His contemporaries included Elaine Stritch, Harry Belafonte, Walter Matthau, Beatrice Arthur, and Rod Steiger. That was followed by Blake Edwards’s Operation Petticoat (1959) with Cary Grant. Jamie Lee Curtis was born on November 22, 1958 in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of legendary actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. "[42] He left behind five children and seven grandchildren. [4] He often collaborated with Edwards on later films. It was a huge success and became a classic; equally popular was Operation Petticoat (1959), a military comedy which Curtis made for Edwards alongside Cary Grant. Star on the Walk of Fame–Motion Picture 6817 Hollywood Blvd. Curtis decided it was time to turn to television and co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders!. [4] The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his chilling portrayal of serial killer Albert DeSalvo. After his son's death, Curtis remarked that it was "a terrible thing when a father loses his son. On 22-11-1958 Jamie Lee Curtis (nickname: The Scream Queen) was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is, through her father, Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz), a famed actor in his own right. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! The “Halloween” star, who appears in the forthcoming black comedy mystery film, “Knives Out,” said she has been sober for more than 20 years after battling an addiction to alcohol and prescription painkillers. ‘Jeopardy!’: Did Aaron Rodgers score a touchdown as host? There are 50 ways to please your lover. [47][48] Investor Kirk Kerkorian, actor Kirk Douglas, and singer Phyllis McGuire were among the honorary pallbearers. Douglas came calling again, offering Curtis a key role in the former's epic production Spartacus (1960). [44] In fact, during the 1960s Curtis served as the president of the American 'I Quit Smoking' Club. In 2007, his painting The Red Table was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. We laugh a lot. “When I work, if there are no recovery meetings available, I make them. His paintings can also be seen at the Tony Vanderploeg Gallery in Carmel, California. The Halloween star battled opiate addiction for more than 10 years. At 16, he had his first small acting part in a school stage play. I put a sign up by the catering truck saying, ‘Recovery meeting in my trailer,'” she said. He attended Seward Park High School. Curtis is the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh.[5]. [43] His widow Jill told the press that Curtis had suffered from various lung problems for years as a result of cigarette smoking, although he had quit smoking about 30 years earlier. I wasn't low man on the totem pole, I was under the totem pole, in a sewer, tied to a sack.[12]. Dear Abby: How can we protect this man from his wife? Comedian and close friend Jerry Lewis was present as a witness.[12]. It was that sort of late afternoon and early evening — I like to refer to it as the warm-bath feeling of an opiate.”, Curtis told Variety she has since attended recovery meetings all over the world and always brings recovery “with me.”. He was in three Westerns, Sierra (1950), starring Audie Murphy, one of many names he worked with (including fellow Universal contractee, Rock Hudson), Winchester '73 (1950), starring James Stewart and Shelley Winters, and Kansas Raiders (1951), in which he supported Murphy again, playing Kit Dalton and billed as "Tony Curtis.". I realized that whatever I was, I wasn't enough for Janet. [14] The first name was from the novel Anthony Adverse and "Curtis" was from Kurtz, a surname in his mother's family. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances. He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him. "I was very dedicated and devoted to Janet, and on top of my trade, but in her eyes that goldenness started to wear off. [11] Curtis and Kaufmann had two daughters, Alexandra (born July 19, 1964) and Allegra (born July 11, 1966). According to his autobiography, Tony Curtis developed a heavy cocaine addiction in the mid-1970s when his stardom was in decline. "For a while, we were Hollywood's golden couple," he said. In the early 1960s, he was a voice-over guest star on The Flintstones as "Stoney Curtis". He then studied acting at The New School in Greenwich Village under the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator. "[23], In 1994, his son Nicholas died of a heroin overdose at the age of 23. Curtis took a fatherly pride in his daughter's success. The box office performances of these films were solid, and Curtis was growing in popularity. Jamie Lee Curtis may appear put together, but her private life has been a struggle. Jamie Lee Curtis: Dad Tony Curtis and I shared…, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), FBI says it interviewed FedEx mass shooter last year, Jamie Lee Curtis: Dad Tony Curtis and I shared drugs and freebased cocaine, Thousands of Chrissy Teigen’s Twitter friends welcome her back. Jamie Lee Curtis may be a scream queen best known for her role as Laurie Strode in Halloween, but her real life story is sweet, not scary. [3] The film co-starred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder. Jamie Lee is the daughter of actors Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz) and Janet Leigh (born Janett Helen Morrison). As Jamie Lee Curtis reveals in a new interview for Variety’s “Recovery Issue,” she shared drugs with her father Tony Curtis. But he found recovery for a minute.”. He made some comic adventure tales: You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) with Charles Bronson and Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came (1970). Her father was Jewish, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. His final TV series was as host of the documentary-retrospective series "Hollywood Babylon" Who Is Jamie Lee Curtis? He went into rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic. Curtis was receiving numerous fan letters, so Universal awarded him the starring role in The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951), a swashbuckler set in the Middle East with Piper Laurie. In his earliest parts he acted in a string of mediocre films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films and a musical. In a 2003 interview Tony Curtis said, “It’s a terrible thing when a father loses his son.”, Jamie Lee Curtis questioned whether her father stuck to his recovery, telling Variety: “He did end up getting sober for a short period of time and was very active in recovery for about three years. Kaufmann resumed her career, which she had interrupted during her marriage. Has male and female body parts. “But that was the only time I did that, and I did that with him.”. [41] A few days beforehand he had met photographer Andy Gotts for a photo-shoot at his home, saying: "I'm not in a good way at the moment but can I ask you one thing? jamie lee curtis honors dad tony curtis on 9th anniversary of his death “I did cocaine and freebased once with my dad,” she said. Jamie Lee Curtis ‘did cocaine and freebased’ with dad Tony Curtis. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Jamie's father, actor Tony Curtis, also battled addiction. Laying a flower gently on his casket, Jamie Lee Curtis bid a sad farewell to her father Tony Curtis. “I never did it when I worked. [22], Beginning in 1990, Curtis and his daughter Jamie Lee Curtis took a renewed interest in their family's Hungarian Jewish heritage, and helped finance the rebuilding of the Great Synagogue in Budapest, Hungary. In 2004, he was inducted into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Hall of Fame. In the last years of his life, he concentrated on painting rather than movies. Curtis explained that he thought the interview was being taped, when it was in fact live. (1963) and had an uncredited dual role in Paris When It Sizzles (1964). [39], On July 8, 2010, Curtis, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was hospitalized in Las Vegas after suffering an asthma attack during a book-signing engagement in Henderson, Nevada, where he lived.[40]. In response, Curtis and Leigh decided to defy the studio heads and instead eloped and were married by a local judge in Greenwich, Connecticut. Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925, at the Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital on 105th Street in Manhattan, New York City, the first of three boys born to Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz. Curtis was one of many stars who had small roles in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). His sixth and last wife, Jill Vandenberg, was 45 years his junior. “I was the wildly controlled drug addict and alcoholic,” Curtis explained. He followed it up with Flesh and Fury (1952), a boxing movie; No Room for the Groom (1952), a comedy with Laurie directed by Douglas Sirk; and Son of Ali Baba (1952), another film set in the Arab world with Laurie. I was unable to work. Anthony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. Can you make me look like an icon just one more time? Tony then married German actress Christine Kauffman in 1963, spending the next five years with her and having daughters Alexandra and Allegra. As Jamie Lee Curtis reveals in a new interview for Variety’s “Recovery Issue,” she shared drugs with her father Tony Curtis. 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