Tony Curtis Biography | Tony Curtis Actor | Jamie Lee Curtis father| Tony Curtis Pictures

Tony Curtis Bio

Tony Curtis Biography

This Academy Award-nominated American film actor, famous for his unmistakable New York accent and his numerous wives has had a successful acting career that has spanned more than fifty years. Tony Curtis was born on June 3^rd 1925 in The Bronx, New York to Jewish Hungarian immigrant parents, Emmanuel, who was a tailor and Helen Schwartz. Tony was the middle son of three brothers, Robert, Tony and Julius. For a short time during his childhood, Tony and his brother Julius were placed in an orphanage due to the mental illness which affected both his mother and his older brother Robert. Robert was eventually institutionalized.

Sadly while Tony was still a teenager his younger brother, Julius was killed by a truck which left Tony with very little in his life and he found solace in the cinema where he became enthralled with all the fencing, horseback riding and kissing.

After Tony left the U.S. Navy where he had served for three years as a submarine tender, he studied acting and met with many other up and coming stars such as Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau and Rod Steiger. Tony has since remarked that he made his way into the movies because of his good looks and after being contracted to Universal Pictures in Hollywood, his main reason for being there was for the money and the girls.

Although initially only seen for his good looks, Tony showed his acting talents in his screen debut ‘Criss Cross’ in which he playing a rhumba dancer, then in ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ in which he starred alongside Burt Lancaster and then as an Oscar nominated actor in ‘The Defiant Ones’ with Sidney Poitier.

Tony made a huge impression in the 1950’s with his good looks and style, so much so that even Elvis Presley copied his ‘ducktail’ hairstyle.

Tony started on the road to having six wives when he married Janet Leigh with whom he had Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis who are both actresses. After they divorced Tony went on to marry Christine Kaufman in 1963 but the marriage only last four years. After that he had a succession of wives. 1968 brought his marriage to Leslie Allen whom he divorced in 1982 after the couple had two children. His son, Nicholas died of a heroin overdose in 1994. Then he married again in 1984, this time to Andrea Savio. His next marriage to Lisa Deutsch was in 1993 and only lasted one year. Within four years he was married again to Jill Vandenberg who is forty two years his junior and with whom he remains happily married.

During his acting career Tony has starred with many of the Hollywood greats such as Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe ‘Some Like It Hot’, and Kirk Douglas in ‘The Vikings’ and ‘Spartacus’. He has stated that his favorite movie star and co-star was Cary Grant.

Tony also made his mark on the small screen when he starred in The Persuaders!, a British television series, from 1971 and 1972, which crossed the Atlantic and aired on the ABC Network in the United States. The series starred Tony, as Danny Wilde, and Roger Moore, as Lord Brett Sinclair, both millionaire international playboys, but from very different American and British backgrounds.

During his long career Tony has appeared in over 100 films since 1949.

Tony has always considered it one of his biggest disappointments in life that he never actually won an Oscar after being nominated several times, but he has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Since the early 1980s, Curtis has had a second career as a painter. His work can command more than £25000 per canvas now a days and this has become his main interest in latter part of his life. In 2007 his painting The Red Table went on display in the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan.

Tony Curtis currently resides in Henderson, Nevada.

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Facts:
Tony Curtis - Starred in 'Houdini' with Janet Leigh .
Tony Curtis - Starred in 'Sweet Smell of Success' alongside Burt Lancaster .
Tony Curtis - Starred in 'The Defiant Ones' with Sidney Poitier .
Tony Curtis - Married Janet Leigh .
Tony Curtis - Father of Jamie Lee Curtis .
Tony Curtis - Starred in the TV series 'The Persuaders' with Roger Moore .
Tony Curtis - Starred in 'Six Bridges to Cross' in which Sal Mineo appeared.