Tim Curry’s cause of death has now been confirmed, just over a week after the actor died at the age of 80.
Officials at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health determined that coronary artery disease was responsible. Their report was obtained by People.
Tim Curry, adored by generations for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter, died at his Los Angeles home on August 25. His manager confirmed the news the following day. No foul play is suspected.
His history of stroke and kidney cancer was reportedly listed as contributing factors.
However, those conditions were unrelated to his coronary artery disease. He had not undergone any operations linked to the disease or to those contributing conditions.
Tim Curry’s cause of death: his health struggles after 2012 stroke
Tim had lived with serious health problems for more than a decade. A devastating stroke in 2012 left him unable to walk. He largely stepped back from public life afterwards, turning to voice work instead.
He was 67 when it happened. Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning in October 2025, he credited the masseuse who raised the alarm.
“It was so strange,” he said. “I was having a massage, and the guy who was giving me a massage said, ‘I’m worried about you, I think we should call a doctor.'”
Tim said he felt fine and had noticed no symptoms himself. His masseuse clearly had. The actor suffered two brain bleeds during the emergency.
Paramedics carried him down the stairs of his home on a stretcher. He said he was extremely nervous because nobody knew what was happening.
When doctors told him he’d had a stroke, his thoughts turned to his father, James Curry. His dad survived a stroke when Tim was just 11.
“I knew that a lot of people didn’t survive a stroke, and that he was an exception, and so I was scared,” he said.
He underwent brain surgery and spent around a month in hospital for rehabilitation. Learning to talk again hit him hard. He described the experience as very weird, and said he hated not being able to speak.
Tim’s final public appearances
Last year, Tim spoke candidly at a screening marking The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s 50th anniversary. Addressing the audience at LA’s Academy Museum, he was frank about his limitations.
“I still can’t walk, which is why I’m in this silly chair, and that’s very limiting,” he said. “So, I won’t be singing, and I won’t be dancing very soon. I still have real problems with my left leg.”
He was pictured in Los Angeles in April, appearing frail while being pushed in his wheelchair. He had been visiting the Friar Tuck Shoppe in Sherman Oaks, a shop selling British goods.
Tim’s career of cult classics
Tim moved permanently to Los Angeles in 1988. Beyond Frank-N-Furter, he played the Lord of Darkness opposite Tom Cruise in Ridley Scott’s Legend. He also played butler Wadsworth in Clue, both released in 1985.
Both films flopped commercially. Both later became cult favourites.
He was also known as sniffy Plaza Hotel concierge Mr Hector in Home Alone 2. Between 2004 and 2007, he played King Arthur in Spamalot in Chicago, on Broadway and in the West End.
Stage credits included My Favorite Year, What About Dick? and Travesties. In 2015, he received The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award in Los Angeles.
Away from screen and stage, Tim was a keen horticulturist. He even designed a garden for Freddie Mercury
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