My thanks to Tim Curry, for introducing me to horror

Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter - Image courtesy of Getty

I, Georgie, am Pennywise the Dancing Clown!

Those were the first words I ever heard Tim Curry speak on screen. Through his raspy voice, the classically trained English actor invited both Georgie Denbrough and four-year-old me down into the sewer for a balloon and a paper boat.

Sadly, my parents turned the channel before I could see poor Georgie’s “entrance” into the sewer. Of course, I wasn’t allowed to watch the rest of the film (or even know its name), being told it was “too scary." This was the first time I learned that something could be so scary it was forbidden, which is a word that only further piques interest, and my young mind couldn’t comprehend how this Ronald McDonald-esque character and his balloon could possibly be considered scary.

For a few weeks after that, I couldn’t walk past a sewer hole without my eyes fixed on it, waiting for that red-nosed jester to stick his head up with a red balloon. Not out of fear, but curiosity. The desire to know what happened to Georgie. To see what the inside of Pennywise’s sewer looked like. To catch a glimpse of a new, curious world where everything floats.

That, dear reader, was how Tim Curry introduced me to horror.

Since that day around 24 years ago, horror has been one of my biggest curiosities. Before becoming a passion. Before I wrote about it. It’s a curiosity I hold forever, and one that I owe to Tim Curry, who passed away Thursday at the age of 80.

Tim Curry suffered a stroke in 2012 -Image courtesy of Getty

It would be around four years after my brief viewing when I realized I had been watching the 1990 IT miniseries. It was probably a year after that when I learned that this Pennywise-Ronald McDonald character was portrayed by Tim Curry. This was also when I realized it was based on a Stephen King work. At this point in my life, my literary preference recently shifted from Magic Treehouse to Goosebumps, so I had a way to go before reading King. But I knew of him nonetheless, as well as his place in horror as both a literary and film genre, which still persists today.

This was also when I finally watched the full movie with a neighborhood friend, whom I admired greatly for his familiarity with the more hardcore “splatter” films like Hostel and House of 1,000 Corpses.

We had a sleepover in my living room one night, and IT happened to be playing on ABC Family (now known as Freeform) as part of their annual 31 Nights of Halloween lineup in October.

After an adolescent eternity of wondering, I finally got to see what happened to Georgie (and why I wasn’t allowed to watch the rest of the film so long ago).

Curry made other, less cosmic appearances throughout my childhood. I had seen Muppet Treasure Island only once, and I still don’t recall exactly when I found out Curry played Long John Silver. But when I found out he played Pennywise I primarily knew him as the concierge from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York—one of my childhood comfort movies. Having watched Clue around the same time, I thought his character Wadsworth was a carbon copy of his character in Home Alone with his accent and attire.

But I he to acknowledge that Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show remains Curry’s best demonstration of his range. In a film built on equal foundations of comedy, horror, and musical, Curry portrayed one of the most iconic and liberating characters of the '70s. He pushed the envelope, bringing to life a character that cast norms aside and invited us to, as the film’s tagline suggests, give ourselves over to absolute pleasure.

Thank to Tim Curry, I’ve given myself over to horror, which has been an absolute pleasure on its own. And thanks to Pennywise, I’ll always look to see what floats in those dark corners of imagination.

Rest in Peace, Tim Curry. Thanks for letting me float, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeTgEtu1uoQ