Trivia of Tony Curtis

Trivia of Tony Curtis

*Having both parents of Hungarian descent, it did not come as a surprise that his family used only Hungarian at home. Hungarian became Curtis’ first language, and he was unable to speak another one until he was six.

*Teenager Curtis was a tough guy on the Bronx’s streets. He dabbled in gang life but always made sure to keep his face covered during street fights. Curtis must have been clairvoyant because it was his attractive face that led to his discovery.When a talent agent saw him and recognized his star potential. Curtis was quickly on his way to becoming a celebrity.

*Joined the Pacific Submarine Force during World War II after watching his favorite film star, Cary Grant, in Destination Tokyo (1943). Curtis would later team up with Grant to play naval officers serving together on a WW2 submarine in Operation Petticoat (1959).

*The bra Curtis wore when dressing in drag for “Some Like It Hot” once was enshrined in the Frederick’s of Hollywood Lingerie Museum. For the role Curtis told the Los Angeles Times, “I thought of myself as a little bit of Grace Kelly and a little bit of my mother.”

*Broke a Hollywood taboo in the 1950s by insisting that an Black-American actor, Sidney Poitier, have co-starring billing next to him in the movie The Defiant Ones (1958).

*He aspired to play Paul Varjack in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Director Blake Edwards thought about it, but the part eventually went to George Peppard.

*Tony Curtis enjoyed painting, and since the early 1980s, painted as a second career. His work commands more than $25,000 a canvas now. In the last years of his life, he concentrated on painting rather than movies. A surrealist, Curtis claimed "Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Magritte" as influences. "I still make movies but I'm not that interested in them any more. But I paint all the time." In 2007, his painting The Red Table was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His paintings can also be seen at the Tony Vanderploeg Gallery in Carmel, California.