| Tony Curtis  AKA Bernard Schwartz
Born: 3-Jun-1925
Birthplace: New York City
Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Houdini and Some Like It Hot Military service: US Navy (WWII) After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Curtis took advantage of the GI Bill to study drama. He earned good reviews in an off-Broadway production of Golden Boy, and was almost immediately offered a contract with Universal Studios. His first film was the 1949 noir classic Criss Cross with Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo, and his first leading role was The Prince Who Was a Thief with Piper Laurie. Classic films include Sweet Smell of Success with Lancaster again, The Defiant Ones with Sidney Poitier, Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and Spartacus with Kirk Douglas. Curtis played Albert DeSalvo in The Boston Strangler and Harry Houdini in Houdini with Janet Leigh (his first wife). On TV, he starred in The Persuaders with Roger Moore, and Vega$ with Robert Urich.
In 1970, he was arrested at Heathrow Airport with a small amount of marijuana, and in later years he snorted cocaine with his daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis. He says he is now clean and sober.
In 1981, Curtis was paid a $50,000 advance by Doubleday Books to write a novel, but when he turned in the manuscript in 1984 they declared it unreadable and sued to recover the advance. Curtis argued that Doubleday had provided next to no editorial assistance -- just one comment from any of the company's editors over four years, and the comment had been favorable. Curtis won, but Doubleday appealed and won back the advance in a higher court.
Father: Emanuel Schwartz (tailor)
Mother: Helen Schwartz (shopkeeper)
Brother: Julius Schwartz (b. 1929, d. 1938 run over by a truck)
Brother: Robert Schwartz (b. 1940, d. 1992)
Wife: Janet Leigh (actress, m. 4-Jun-1951, div. Jun-1962, two daughters)
Daughter: Kelly Curtis (actress, b. 17-Jun-1956)
Daughter: Jamie Lee Curtis (actress, b. 22-Nov-1958)
Wife: Christine Kaufmann (Austrian actress, m. 8-Feb-1963, div. 1967, two children)
Daughter: Alexandra Kaufmann-Curtis (b. 1964)
Daughter: Allegra Kaufmann-Curtis (b. 1966)
Wife: Leslie Allen (model, m. 20-Apr-1968, div. 1982, two sons)
Son: Nicholas Curtis (b. 1971, d. 2-Jul-1994 heroin overdose)
Son: Benjamin Curtis (b. 1973)
Wife: Andrea Savio (actress, m. 1984, div. 1992)
Wife: Lisa Deutsch (attorney, m. 28-Feb-1993, div. 1994)
Wife: Jill Vandenberg (m. 6-Nov-1998)
Hollywood Walk of Fame 6817 Hollywood Blvd (motion pictures)
Endorsement of R. J. Reynolds Camel cigarettes (1953)
Drug Possession: Marijuana Heathrow airport, 1970
Betty Ford Center 1984
Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart
Hungarian Ancestry
Risk Factors: Alcoholism, Marijuana, Cocaine
TELEVISION
Vega$ Philip Roth (1978-81)
The Persuaders Danny Wilde (1971-72)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Reflections of Evil (22-Mar-2002)
Play It to the Bone (25-Dec-1999)
The Celluloid Closet (13-Sep-1995) Himself
The Immortals (1995)
Naked in New York (1993)
Christmas in Connecticut (13-Apr-1992)
Lobster Man from Mars (29-Jan-1989)
Murder in Three Acts (30-Sep-1986)
Insignificance (2-Aug-1985)
BrainWaves (1983)
Where is Parsifal? (1983)
The Mirror Crack'd (19-Dec-1980)
Little Miss Marker (21-Mar-1980)
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (30-Jun-1978)
The Manitou (9-Jun-1978)
Sextette (3-Mar-1978)
The Last Tycoon (15-Nov-1976)
The Count of Monte Cristo (10-Jan-1975)
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (11-Sep-1970)
You Can't Win 'Em All (24-Jul-1970)
Monte Carlo or Bust (28-May-1969)
The Boston Strangler (16-Oct-1968)
Don't Make Waves (20-Jun-1967)
Drop Dead Darling (28-Dec-1966)
Not With My Wife You Don't (2-Nov-1966)
Boeing Boeing (22-Dec-1965)
The Great Race (1-Jul-1965)
Sex and the Single Girl (25-Dec-1964)
Goodbye Charlie (18-Nov-1964)
Captain Newman, M.D. (25-Dec-1963)
The List of Adrian Messenger (29-May-1963)
40 Pounds of Trouble (31-Dec-1962)
Taras Bulba (19-Dec-1962)
The Great Impostor (3-Feb-1961)
The Outsider (1961)
Spartacus (6-Oct-1960)
The Rat Race (10-Jul-1960)
Who Was That Lady? (8-Apr-1960)
Operation Petticoat (5-Dec-1959)
Some Like It Hot (29-Mar-1959)
The Perfect Furlough (21-Jan-1959)
The Defiant Ones (14-Aug-1958)
Kings Go Forth (28-Jun-1958)
The Vikings (11-Jun-1958)
The Midnight Story (4-Jul-1957)
Sweet Smell of Success (27-Jun-1957)
Trapeze (30-May-1956)
The Square Jungle (30-Dec-1955)
The Black Shield of Falworth (2-Sep-1954)
Beachhead (5-Feb-1954)
Houdini (2-Jul-1953)
All American (1953)
Son of Ali Baba (15-Aug-1952)
Flesh and Fury (27-Mar-1952)
The Prince Who Was a Thief (3-Jul-1951)
Kansas Raiders (20-Nov-1950)
Winchester '73 (12-Jul-1950)
Francis (Feb-1950)
Official Website:
http://www.tonycurtis.com/
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