Hollywood actor Tony Curtis, 85, died from a cardiac arrest on 29 September 2010 at his home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson.
- News report
It is sad when a man’s lifetime of work and dedication is summed up in a remembered line that is used to mock him. It is even sadder when that is not even a true or correct reflection. So it was with Tony Curtis and I confess that I was one of those who quoted that line.
Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in 1925 in the Bronx, New York, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Until age 6 he spoke only Hungarian, resulting in his schooling being delayed. Life was not easy for the Schwartz family. Curtis’s mother suffered from schizophrenia and frequently beat her 3 sons. Older brother Robert was also diagnosed with schizophrenia and later institutionalised. When he was eight, Curtis and his brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because his parents couldn’t afford food for them. Julius was killed 4 years later when struck by a truck.
