Tony Curtis - Death of A fine, Underrated Actor

Why didn't Tony Curtis ever win an Academy Award?  He was a wonderful actor and a natural comedian but he never really got the credit he deserved.  I think Hollywood typast him as a "pretty face" early on in his career and he was never able to escape the label despite wonderful performances.  Sure he was a pretty face, one of the prettiest faces in the business but he was so much more than that.  He was a truly creative man and he proved that in the latter part of his career by becoming a talented painter.  Looking at his movies today you can see how much he invested emotionally in outstanding performances such as "Spartacus," "Houdini," "Trapeze," " "The Defiant Ones," "Some Like it Hot", "Sweet Smell of Success," and so many others.  His crowning achievement as an actor in my opinion was, of course, "The Boston Strangler," and it's an outrage that he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for that astonishing performance where the beautiful Tony Curtis face all but disappeared to give birth to the tortured murderer Albert de Salvo.  I always felt that despite his financial success, audience adoration, many wives, affairs, children and drug and alcohol battles, he never really escaped the pain of his childhood .  I think he drew on that pain to give his best performances.  Farewell Tony and thanks for the memories.

src="http://blog-train.net/widget.php?id=7764485672885115036" frameborder=0 height=70 scrolling=no width=164></iframe>