Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx in 1925, the son of Hungarian immigrants, and rose from a tough New York upbringing to become one of Hollywood's most popular leading men of the 1950s. Marketed at first for his striking looks, he steadily proved himself a versatile actor with a real flair for both drama and comedy.

He earned an Academy Award nomination for The Defiant Ones, in which he and Sidney Poitier played escaped convicts chained together, and he shone in Billy Wilder's beloved comedy Some Like It Hot, donning disguise alongside Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. He brought a slippery charm to Sweet Smell of Success and adventure to The Vikings and Spartacus.

Curtis worked prolifically across film and television for decades and later took up painting with genuine devotion. He was the father of actress Jamie Lee Curtis. He died in 2010. Curtis embodied a particular American story, the immigrant's son who reinvented himself in Hollywood, and his best work showed there was a sly, capable comedian behind the matinee-idol face.