Tony Curtis was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films, in roles covering a wide range of genres. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.

In 1948, Tony Curtis arrived in Hollywood at age 23. It is said that a chance meeting on the airplane to California with Jack Warner started his career.

He described his chances of becoming a star in this way:

“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.”

His first major work as a dramatic actor came in the film Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Defiant Ones (1958) alongside Sidney Poitier. This was followed by the comedies Some Like It Hot and Operation Petticoat in 1959. In 1960, Tony Curtis played a supporting role in the epic historical drama Spartacus.

His most significant dramatic part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama The Boston Strangler. Curtis also took on the role of the Ukrainian Cossack Andrei in the historical action romance epic Taras Bulba.

Many will remember his entry into television work as he played alongside Roger Moore in The Persuaders in 1971.

Throughout his life, Tony Curtis enjoyed painting, and by 1980 began painting as a second career. In the last years of his life, he concentrated on his art work rather than movies. A surrealist, Tony Curtis claimed Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso as influences.

Tony Curtis, a true Hollywood legend will always be In Heaven with the Stars.