Goodbye Tony

R.I.P. Tony Curtis, age 85. He passed away at midnight Wednesday night at his home near Las Vegas, Nevada. Born Bernard Schwartz, to Hungarian immigrants, he was raised in the Bronx, N.Y.

Curtis was not much of an academic guy. He completed only one year of high school, and spent two years in the U.S. Navy where he learned to act on the GI Bill. Smart move, since it led to him becoming a contracted actor at Universal Studios. He earned one Oscar nomination during his long, active career, for The Defiant Ones (1958). His best-known films were Spartacus (1960), Sweet Smell of Success (1957) to farce- comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) co-starring Marilyn Monroe.

Curtis was married five times; the most famous one to actress Janet Leigh, with whom he appeared in Houdini after they wed. Actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis were the fruits of that marriage. Tony Curtis had a rocky relationship with all of his children, including his eldest son, Nicholas, who died at age 23 of a heroin overdose in 1994. Always full of live and a colorful personality, he truly was one of  the last of  his kind: the cinema giants, and an artist who is a legitimate credit to his craft.