Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925) is an American film actor. He has played a variety of roles, from light comic, such as the musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot, to serious dramatic roles, such as an escaped convict in The Defiant Ones, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Since 1949, he has appeared in more than 100 films and has made frequent television appearances.
Curtis was bo...
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Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925) is an American film actor. He has played a variety of roles, from light comic, such as the musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot, to serious dramatic roles, such as an escaped convict in The Defiant Ones, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Since 1949, he has appeared in more than 100 films and has made frequent television appearances.
Curtis was born as Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, a son of Emanuel Schwartz and his wife Helen Klein. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Mátészalka, Hungary. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop, the parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. Curtis has said, "When I was a child Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness which also affected his brother Robert and led to his...
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