Essential Tony Curtis

In the 1950s and 60s, Tony Curtis was one of the best-looking actors decorating the Hollywood landscape, and he knew it, but Tony did take his acting career seriously. He once said: “I feel that I have two professions, I have the profession of being an actor and I have the profession of being famous,” and he was quite good at both. To celebrate what would have been his 90th birthday, let’s take a look at Tony Curtis, the actor. He demonstrated an amazing talent and versatility whether playing a good guy or a real creep.

Tony Curtis was 22 years old when he arrived in Hollywood in 1947 and had to pay his dues like many other beginners. He began with bit parts, billed as “James Curtis” and “Anthony Curtis.” He first attracted notice in a two minute, uncredited bit part in 1949’s “Criss Cross,” starring Burt Lancaster. Tony dances with Yvonne DeCarlo to make Burt jealous. His character didn’t even have a name and is listed as “Gigolo.” It wouldn’t be long before Tony Curtis was co-starring in movies with Burt Lancaster.

Here is a list of the best Tony Curtis movies already available on DVD, all well worth the price of admission:

Houdini (1953): Tony and then wife, Janet Leigh, starred in “Houdini,” with Tony playing the title role of the Hungarian/American magician and escape artist and Janet playing his wife, Bess. In the “What a Coincidence” Department, Tony Curtis was also of Hungarian descent and his first language was Hungarian. Tony was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, NY. Houdini, who told people he was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, was really born Ehrich Weisz in Budapest, Hungary. When you consider that Houdini took quite a few liberties with reality during his life, you might figure that even he would truly appreciate this film (well, maybe not what they did with the Chinese Water Torture Cell so much). An amateur magician, Tony performed many tricks in the film himself.

Trapeze (1956): Tony played Tino Orsini, a trapeze artist who wants to learn how to do the triple somersault from Burt Lancaster. Burt (as Mike Ribble) can no longer perform because of an accident, but when he was a performer, he was the only one who could do the triple somersault. Now he can perform vicariously through Tino, but their student/teacher relationship takes on an entirely different dimension when they both fall in love with Gina Lollobrigida (as Lola).

Sweet Smell of Success (1957): Tony’s character, Sidney Falco, is a sleazy press agent who engages in some pretty horrible acts at the behest of powerful gossip columnist, J.J. Hunsecker,  based upon famous NY columnist Walter Winchell and portrayed by Burt Lancaster. Tony’s studio didn’t want him to do this movie because it went against the popular characters he was usually cast as, but Tony fought for the role in an effort to prove he wasn’t just another lightweight pretty boy actor, and he certainly did. The movie was a flop because nobody liked the characters played by Tony or Burt. It has since become a film noir classic.

The Defiant Ones (1958): Two convicts escape from a Southern chain gang, manacled together in this Stanley Kramer movie. Tony Curtis is John “Joker” Johnson and Sidney Poitier is Noah Cullen, who despise each other being from different races in a prejudiced world. When they are forced to depend upon each other for survival, an unlikely bond forms between them. A great supporting cast including Cara Williams, Theodore Bikel and Lon Chaney, Jr. makes “The Defiant Ones” even more awesome. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, with both Tony and Sidney being nominated for a Best Actor award.

Besides Tony and Sidney being up against each other, there was some pretty stiff competition that year, most notably in the form of Paul Newman as Brick in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and Spencer Tracy in “The Old Man and the Sea.” They all lost to David Niven in “Separate Tables.” Marlon Brando and James Mitchum were considered for Tony’s role. Marlon was unavailable and Mitchum turned it down because he felt it was unrealistic to portray a black and white man being chained together in the segregated South. Elvis Presley, who was a big Tony Curtis fan (so much that he copied Tony’s ducktailed hair style) also wanted the role.

Two more Tony Curtis essentials are Some Like It Hot (1959), a madcap comedy, with Jack Lemmon (who did win an Oscar) and Marilyn Monroe; and The Boston Strangler (1968) with Tony in the title role as serial killer, Albert DeSalvo.

You can catch some of these Tony Curtis movies on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) if you have it. Also keep an eye out for The Flesh and The Fury (1952) starring Tony as a deaf boxer; the hard to find Mr. Cory (1957) with Tony as an ambitious kid from the Chicago slums who rises to own a resort,; and The Great Imposter (1961) in which Tony portrays Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr., a man who faked being a doctor, warden, monk and teacher.