Tony Curtis

**Tony Curtis** (born **Bernard Schwartz**; June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American movie actor.  He was most popular during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He is famous for his light comic roles, especially his musician escaping from gangsters in _Some Like It Hot_ (1959). He has also acted in more serious and dramatic movies, like _The Defiant Ones_ (1958), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He has appeared in over 100 movies since 1949, and made frequent television appearances. He was the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis.

## Early life

Curtis was born in The Bronx, New York. His birth name is **Bernard Schwatz**. He is one of three sons of Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz. His parents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Mátészalka, Hungary. Hungarian was Curtis's only language until he was five or six, postponing his schooling. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop—his parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother once made an appearance as a participant on the television show _You Bet Your Life_, hosted by Groucho Marx. Curtis said, "When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. His brother Robert was also institutionalized with the same mental illness.

## Death

He died on September 29, 2010, aged 85 of cardiac arrest in Henderson, Nevada.

## Movies

- _Criss Cross_ (1949)
- _Bedrock Across the River_ (1949)
- _The Lady Gambles_ (1949)
- _Take One False Step_ (1949) (scenes deleted)
- _Johnny Stool Pigeon_ (1949)
- _How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border_ (1949) (short subject)
- _Woman in Hiding_ (1950)
- _Francis_ (1950)
- _I Was a Shoplifter_ (1950)
- _Sierra_ (1950)
- _Winchester '73_ (1950)
- _Kansas Raiders_ (1950)
- _The Prince Who Was a Thief_ (1951)
- _Meet Danny Wilson_ (1952) (cameo)
- _Flesh and Fury_ (1952)
- _No Room for the Groom_ (1952)
- _Son of Ali Baba_ (1952)
- _Houdini_ (1953)
- _The All-American_ (1953)
- _Forbidden_ (1953)
- _Beachhead_ (1954)
- _Johnny Dark_ (1954)
- _The Black Shield of Falworth_ (1954)
- _Six Bridges to Cross_ (1955)
- _So This Is Paris_ (1955)
- _The Purple Mask_ (1955)
- _The Rawhide Years_ (1955)
- _The Square Jungle_ (1955)
- _Trapeze_ (1956)
- _Mister Cory_ (1957)
- _Sweet Smell of Success_ (1957)
- _The Midnight Story_ (1957)
- _The Vikings_ (1958)
- _Kings Go Forth_ (1958)
- _The Defiant Ones_ (1958)
- _The Perfect Furlough_ (1958)
- _Some Like It Hot_ (1959)
- _Operation Petticoat_ (1959)
- _Who Was That Lady?_ (1960)
- _The Rat Race_ (1960)
- _Spartacus_ (1960)
- _Pepe_ (1960) (cameo)
- _The Great Impostor_ (1961)
- _The Outsider_ (1961)
- _Taras Bulba_ (1962)
- _40 Pounds of Trouble_ (1962)
- _The List of Adrian Messenger_ (1963) (cameo)
- _Captain Newman, M.D._ (1963)
- _Paris, When It Sizzles_ (1964) (cameo)
- _Wild and Wonderful_ (1964)
- _Goodbye Charlie_ (1964)
- _Sex and the Single Girl_ (1964)
- _The Great Race_ (1965)
- _Boeing Boeing_ (1965)
- _Chamber of Horrors_ (1966) (cameo)
- _Not with My Wife, You Don't!_ (1966)
- _Arrivederci, Baby!_ (1966)
- _Don't Make Waves_ (1967)
- _On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who..._ (1968)
- _Rosemary's Baby_ (1968) (voice)
- _The Boston Strangler_ (1968)
- _Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies_ (1969)
- _You Can't Win 'Em All_ (1970)
- _Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?_ (1970)
- _Mission: Monte Carlo_ (1974)
- _Lepke_ (1975)
- _London Conspiracy_ (1976)
- _The Last Tycoon_ (1976)
- _Casanova & Co._ (1977)
- _Sextette_ (1978)
- _The Manitou_ (1978)
- _The Bad News Bears Go to Japan_ (1978)
- _Double Take_ (1979)
- _Title Shot_ (1979)
- _Little Miss Marker_ (1980)
- _It Rained All Night the Day I Left_ (1980)
- _The Mirror Crack'd_ (1980)
- _The Scarlett O'Hara War_ (1980)
- _Othello, the Black Commando_ (1982)
- _Where Is Parsifal?_ (1983)
- _BrainWaves_ (1983)
- _The Fantasy movie Worlds of George Pal_ (1985) (documentary)
- _Club Life_ (1985)
- _Insignificance_ (1985)
- _The Last of Philip Banter_ (1986)
- _Balboa_ (1986)
- _The Passenger - Welcome to Germany_ (1988)
- _Lobster Man from Mars_ (1989)
- _Midnight_ (1989)
- _Walter & Carlo In America_ (1989)
- _Prime Target_ (1991)
- _Center of the Web_ (1992)
- _Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time_ (1992) (documentary)
- _Naked in New York_ (1993)
- _The Mummy Lives_ (1993)
- _A Century of Cinema_ (1994) (documentary)
- _The Immortals_ (1995)
- _The Celluloid Closet_ (1995) (documentary)
- _Hardball_ (1997)
- _Brittle Glory_ (1997)
- _Alien X Factor_ (1997)
- _Stargames_ (1998)
- _Louis & Frank_ (1998)
- _Play It to the Bone_ (1999) (cameo)
- _Reflections of Evil_ (2002) (narrator)
- _Where's Marty?_ (2006)
- _Funny Money_ (2007)
- _The Blacksmith and the Carpenter_ (2007) (voice)
- _David & Fatima_ (2008)
- _Oceans 14_ (2009)

## Other websites

- Biography  and naval service  from the California Center for Military History website

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Tony Curtis
- **image**: Tony Curtis 1958.jpg
- **caption**: Tony Curtis in 1958
- **birth name**: Bernard Schwartz
- **birth place**: The Bronx, New York (state), New York, U.S.
- **death place**: Henderson, Nevada, Henderson, Nevada, U.S.
- **resting place**: Palm Memorial Park (Green Valley), Las Vegas, Nevada
- **death cause**: Cardiac arrest
- **education**: The City College of New York
- **alma mater**: The New School
- **years active**: 1948–2010
- **occupation**: Actor
- **party**: Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party
- **children**: 6, including Kelly Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis