Biography of Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in New York to Emanuel and Helen Schwartz on June 3, 1925. His parents were Hungarian Jews, his father was a tailor and his mother ran the front store. Bernie’s brother Julius came in July 1929, and tragically was hit by a truck and killed in 1938. The Schwartz family moved around New York a bit and times were tough. Emanuel and Helen had another son, Robert, in 1940.
Bernie went into the Navy in 1943. After the Navy, Bernie joined the Dramatic Workshop of the New School and left in 1948 for California with a plane ticket and request from Universal Studios. a few films, a name change and….Movie history is made!
Tony moved his family to California in 1949. After establishing himself in the industry as a up and comer, he married famed actress Janet Leigh in 1951 and the couple had two daughters, Kelly and Jamie Lee. Tony then began to branch out into more satisfying roles. The marriage broke up in 1962 and Janet married stockbroker Bob Brandt while Tony married actress Christine Kaufmann. Third child Alexandra was born in 1964 and fourth child Allegra arrived in 1966. Sadly, Tony again divorced in 1968. Leslie Allen was Tony’s next wife. First son and fifth child Nicholas was born in 1971. Last child and second son Benjamin was born in 1973.
Alas, Leslie and Tony split. Tony took some time to deal with a substance abuse problem and then began to write novels. Tony then found a love of art and began painting. Tony has had his time of sadness. Tony’s brother Robert passed away in 1992. Tradegy struck again in 1994, Tony’s son Nicholas died. Tony braved the waters of marriage a fourth time to Lawyer Lisa Deutsch in 1993. They, too, divorced.
Congratulations to Tony on his latest marriage to Jill Vanden Berg! Tony and the equestrian Jill married on November 6, 1998.
Is this guy a survivor or what?
No wonder he is such a fine actor. His own life has been like a movie with marriages, children, divorces, problems, happiness, you name it! Through it all, Tony has kept striving and working and making life the best it can be.
Biography of Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis is the stage name of Bernard Schwartz (b. June 3, 1925 in the Bronx, New York), an actor who has appeared in over 100 films since 1949. Curtis has also appeared frequently on television; he co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders. He made his screen debut uncredited in Criss Cross playing a rhumba dancer.
Since at least the early 1980s Curtis has had a second career as a painter.
Curtis has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1995.
He has been married five times; his first wife was actress Janet Leigh, with whom he fathered actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis. He was also married to actress Christine Kaufmann in the 1960s.
Filmography
Criss Cross (1949)
City Across the River (1949)
The Lady Gambles (1949)
Take One False Step (1949) (scenes deleted)
Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949)
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border (1949) (short subject)
Woman in Hiding (1950)
Francis (1950)
I Was a Shoplifter (1950)
Sierra (1950)
Winchester ’73 (1950)
Kansas Raiders (1950)
The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951)
Meet Danny Wilson (1952) (cameo)
Flesh and Fury (1952)
No Room for the Groom (1952)
Son of Ali Baba (1952)
Houdini (movie) (1953)
All American (1953)
Forbidden (1953)
Beachhead (1954)
Johnny Dark (1954)
The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
Six Bridges to Cross (1955)
So This Is Paris (1955)
The Purple Mask (1955)
The Rawhide Years (1955)
The Square Jungle (1955)
Trapeze (1956)
Mister Cory (1957)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
The Midnight Story (1957)
The Vikings (1958)
Kings Go Forth (1958)
The Defiant Ones (1958)
The Perfect Furlough (1958)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Operation Petticoat (1959)
Who Was That Lady? (1960)
The Rat Race (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
Pepe (1960) (cameo)
The Great Imposter (1961)
The Outsider (1961)
Taras Bulba (1962)
40 Pounds of Trouble (1962)
The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) (cameo)
Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
Paris – When It Sizzles (1964) (cameo)
Wild and Wonderful (1964)
Goodbye Charlie (1964)
Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
The Great Race (1965)
Boeing Boeing (1965)
Chamber of Horrors (1966) (cameo)
Not with My Wife, You Don’t! (1966)
Arrivederci, Baby! (1966)
Don’t Make Waves (1967)
On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who… (1968)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) (voice)
The Boston Strangler (1968)
Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969)
You Can’t Win ‘Em All (1970)
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)
Mission: Monte Carlo (1974)
Lepke (1975)
London Conspiracy (1976)
The Last Tycoon (1976)
Casanova & Co. (1977)
Sextette (1978)
The Manitou (1978)
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978)
Double Take (1979)
Title Shot (1979)
Little Miss Marker (1980)
It Rained All Night the Day I Left (1980)
The Mirror Crack’d (1980)
Othello, the Black Commando (1982)
Where Is Parsifal? (1983)
BrainWaves (1983)
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985) (documentary)
Club Life (1985)
Insignificance (1985)
The Last of Philip Banter (1986)
Balboa (1986)
The Passenger – Welcome to Germany (1988)
Lobster Man from Mars (1989)
Midnight (1989)
Walter & Carlo In America (1989)
Prime Target (1991)
Center of the Web (1992)
Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time (1992) (documentary)
Naked in New York (1993)
The Mummy Lives (1993)
A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
The Immortals (1995)
The Celluloid Closet (1995) (documentary)
Hardball (1997)
Brittle Glory (1997)
Alien X Factor (1997)
Stargames (1998)
Louis & Frank (1998)
Play It to the Bone (1999) (cameo)
Reflections of Evil (2002) (narrator)
Politics
Curtis and actress-activist Bo Derek met with Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA) in Washington, D.C., in May 2004 to discuss protecting horses. The relevant bill is H.R. 857, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.