Hollywood Legend Tony Curtis

Starring in over 140 major motion pictures, an American icon Tony Curtis first gained attention in a Greenwich Village stage production of "Golden Boy." Not long after his discovery, he was offered a seven year contract by Universal Pictures. In 1948 he headed for California where his screen debut had him dancing with Yvonne de Carlo in Criss Cross (1948). Universal realized it had a rising star.



Curtis first earned top billing rights in The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951). Although under contract with Universal, Paramount cast Tony in the role of Houdini (1953,) which cast him opposite Janet Leigh. It was in 1958 when Curtis and Sidney Poitier starred in Stanley Kramer's social drama The Defiant Ones (1959) which earned both men Academy Award nominations and was among the most acclaimed and profitable films of the year. Riding on the crest of Some Like It Hot, Curtis got to work first hand with his idol Cary Grant in Blake Edward's comedy, Operation Petticoat (1959), another massive hit.



For director Stanley Kubrick, Curtis co-starred in the 1960 epic Spartacus, followed a year later by The Great Impostor. What followed was an acting career that spanned more than four decades and included a long string of mega-blockbusters that earned Curtis the mega-star status he still enjoys today.



Curtis is now enjoying a successful second career as a fine artist, painter, assemblage creator, and sketcher. His work can command more than $50,000 a canvas now and it is on this he now focuses rather than movies. Curtis’ paintings are featured in prominent galleries all around the world, including in Las Vegas, Carmel, Maui, Whistler, London, Paris, and New York. In 2007 his painting The Red Table went on display at the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan.