Cedar Lee Theatre in Cleveland Heights is paying tribute to Tim Curry with screenings of two of his most famous films, after the actor died last month at his Los Angeles home at age 80. The historic art-house cinema has added a 10:30 p.m. showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show this Saturday, Sept. 5, since the theater's regular midnight screening of the 1975 cult classic has already sold out.
Curry died Aug. 25 at his Los Angeles home from coronary heart disease, according to People, as cited by Cleveland.com, whose reporting on the tribute screenings was written by Joey Morona. Emergency personnel responded to the actor's home, and no foul play was suspected, according to reports. He was 80.
The added Rocky Horror showing will not feature Simply His Servants, Cleveland's resident Rocky Horror floor show cast, which typically performs alongside the theater's monthly midnight screenings. The group was formed in late 1994 and has performed screen-accurate reenactments at Cedar Lee for over three decades, according to Simply His Servants, with audiences participating.
Clue Screenings Round Out the Tribute
Cedar Lee will also screen Clue, the 1985 adaptation of the classic board game in which Curry played Wadsworth the butler, at 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27. Ticket prices for the theater's screenings range from $9.75 to $12.50, and tickets are available at clevelandcinemas.com.
Clue's theatrical run in December 1985 was famously unusual: three different endings revealing different killers were distributed across separate cinemas, a marketing strategy that contributed to its initial commercial failure, according to TIME. Home video and television releases later combined all three endings into a single feature. The film grossed just $14.6 million against a $15 million production budget during its original run, per SlashFilm, before it evolved into a widely praised cult classic through home video.
A Role Curry Originated Onstage Years Earlier
Before Rocky Horror became his breakout film role, Curry originated the part of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1973 London stage premiere of The Rocky Horror Show at the Royal Court Theatre's Theatre Upstairs, as detailed by The Guardian. Creator Richard O'Brien reportedly invited Curry to audition after the two had worked together in Hair. The 1975 film adaptation later became a cultural phenomenon in its own right and is often described as the longest-continuously-running film release.
Curry's later years were shaped by a severe stroke in 2012 that left him wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life, according to Legacy.com. He continued performing through voiceover work and limited fan appearances in the years that followed.
A Decades-Old Tradition at a Cleveland Heights Landmark
Cedar Lee Theatre, located at 2163 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights, opened on Christmas Day in 1925 as an 1,100-seat single-screen cinema designed by local architect Nicola Petti, before expanding into a six-screen art-house multiplex by 1994. The theater hosts monthly midnight Rocky Horror screenings, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
The tribute continues a tradition that has run at Cedar Lee for nearly half a century, connecting Curry's passing to a ritual that has drawn generations of local fans.
