| Activity | Curtis was born as Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz. His father was a tailor. The family lived in the back of the tailor shop, his parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. Curtis has said, "When I was a child Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness which also affected his brother Robert and led to his institutionalization. When Curtis was eight, he and his younger brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, his brother Julius was struck and killed by a truck.
During World War II Curtis served in the United States Navy aboard USS Proteus (AS-19), a submarine tender. On September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away.
Following his military service, Curtis studied acting in New York along with Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau, and Rod Steiger. He was discovered by a talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. Curtis claims it was because he "was the handsomest of the boys." Arriving in Hollywood in 1948 at age 23, he was placed under contract at Universal Pictures and changed his name to Tony Curtis. Although the studio taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admits he was at first only interested in girls and money.
Curtis's screen debut came uncredited in the Criss Cross playing a rumba dancer. Later, he cemented his reputation with breakout performances such as in the role of the scheming press agent Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success with Burt Lancaster (who also starred in Criss Cross) and an Oscar-nominated performance as a bigoted escaped convict chained to Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones.
He was so popular during the 1950s as a screen hunk that Elvis Presley copied his on-screen ducktail hairstyle.
Curtis also appeared frequently on television; he co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders!. Later, he co-starred in McCoy and Vega$. In the early 1960s, he was immortalized as "Stony Curtis," a voice-over guest star on The Flintstones.
Throughout his life, Curtis has enjoyed painting, and since the early 1980s, has painted as a second career. His work commands more than $25,000 a canvas now and he now focuses on painting rather than movies. "I still make movies but I'm not that interested in them any more. But I paint all the time." In 2007, his painting The Red Table was on display in the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan.
Curtis has spoken in the past of his disappointment at never being awarded an Oscar. "My profession has never recognized me sufficiently for my work." But in March 2006, Curtis did receive the Sony Ericsson Empire Lifetime Achievement Award. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) from France in 1995.
Active: 1948-
Walk of Fame - Motion Picture 6801 Hollywood Blvd |