Actor - Tony Curtis - large postcard c.1970s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Tony Curtis
• Publisher:  East-West Publishers, printed by Printex
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.

Although his early film roles were partly the result of his good looks, by the later half of the 1950s he became a notable and strong screen presence. He began proving himself to be a “fine dramatic actor,” having the range to act in numerous dramatic and comedy roles. In his earliest parts he acted in a string of ""mediocre"" films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films, and a musical. However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, ""his first clear success,"" notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely.^[1][2]

He won his first serious recognition as a skilled dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in another drama, The Defiant Ones (1958). Curtis then gave what could arguably be called his best performance: three interrelated roles in the comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). Thomson called it an ""outrageous film,"" and a survey carried out by the American Film Institute voted it the funniest American film ever made.^[3] The film co-starred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder. That was followed by Blake Edwards’s comedy Operation Petticoat (1959) with Cary Grant. They were both “frantic comedies,” and displayed ""his impeccable comic timing.""^[4] He often collaborated with Edwards on later films. In 1960, Curtis co-starred in Spartacus, which became another major hit for him.

His stardom and film career declined considerably after the early 1960s. His most significant part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama The Boston Strangler, which some consider his ""last major film role.""^[4] The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his ""chilling portrayal"" of serial killer Albert DeSalvo. He gained 30 pounds and had his face ""rebuilt"" with a false nose to look like the real DeSalvo.

Curtis was the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis^[5] by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh.^[6]

Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in The Bronx, New York, one of three sons of Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz.^[7][8] His parents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Mátészalka, Hungary. Hungarian was Curtis's only language until he was five or six, postponing his schooling.^[9] His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop—his parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother once made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx.^[10] Curtis said, ""When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic."" His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. His brother Robert was also institutionalized with the same mental illness.

When Curtis was eight, he and his brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck. Curtis joined a neighborhood gang whose main crimes were playing hooky from school and minor pilfering at the local dime store. When Curtis was 11, a friendly neighbor saved him from what he felt would have led to a life of delinquency by sending him to a Boy Scout camp, where he was able to work off his energy and settle down. He attended Seward Park High School. At 16, he had his first small acting part in a school stage play.^[11]

Curtis enlisted in the United States Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor and war was declared. Inspired by Cary Grant's role in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power's in Crash Dive (1943), he joined the Pacific submarine force.^[9] Curtis served aboard a submarine tender, the USS Proteus, until the end of the Second World War. On September 2, 1945, Curtis witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from his ship's signal bridge about a mile away.^[12]

Following his discharge from the Navy, Curtis attended City College of New York on the G.I. Bill. He then studied acting at the The New School in Greenwich Village under the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator. His contemporaries included Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau, Beatrice Arthur, and Rod Steiger. While still at college, Curtis was discovered by Joyce Selznick, the notable talent agent, casting director, and niece of film producer David O. Selznick. He later claimed it was because he ""was the handsomest of the boys"".

In 1948, Curtis arrived in Hollywood, at age 23. When he was placed under contract at Universal Pictures, he changed his name from Bernard Schwartz to Tony Curtis. The first name was from the novel Anthony Adverse and ""Kurtz"" from a surname in his mother's family.^[13] Although Universal Pictures taught him fencing and riding, in keeping with the cinematic themes of the era, Curtis admitted he was at first only interested in girls and money. Neither was he hopeful of his chances of becoming a major star. Curtis's biggest fear was having to return home to the Bronx as a failure:

I was a million-to-one shot, the least likely to succeed. I wasn't low man on the totem pole, I was under the totem pole, in a sewer, tied to a sack.^[11]

type=printed postcards

theme=people

sub-theme=actors

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted