Tim Curry, the much-loved British actor whose unforgettable performances ranged from the flamboyant Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show to the terrifying Pennywise in Stephen King’s It, has died aged 80.

Curry died peacefully at his home in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, on Tuesday, his longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz confirmed. A cause of death has not been publicly revealed.

His death brings to a close an extraordinary career spanning more than five decades, during which Curry became one of the most distinctive and versatile character actors of his generation.

For millions, however, there will always be one role above all others.

Curry first stepped into the fishnets of Dr Frank-N-Furter in the original London stage production of The Rocky Horror Show in 1973, before reprising the role for the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The movie was initially far from a blockbuster, but something remarkable happened in the years that followed. Midnight screenings became a phenomenon, audiences began dressing as the characters and joining in with the film, and Rocky Horror grew into one of cinema’s most enduring cult classics.

Curry’s performance was at the heart of it all.

He later admitted he had worried that playing such an outrageous character might prove difficult to escape, but said he believed a role was not worth doing unless it involved taking a risk.

It was an approach that served him well.

Curry became particularly brilliant at playing characters who were sinister, eccentric, funny – and quite often all three at once.

He terrified a generation as Pennywise the clown in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King’s It, played the wonderfully suspicious butler Wadsworth in Clue, and appeared as Rooster Hannigan in Annie.

There were memorable turns in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Muppet Treasure Island, Legend, The Three Musketeers and Charlie’s Angels, among dozens of other film and television appearances.

Curry was equally accomplished on stage.

He received three Tony Award nominations, including for playing Mozart in Amadeus and King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot, while his instantly recognisable voice also made him a prolific voice actor. He won a Daytime Emmy in 1991 for his performance as Captain Hook in Peter Pan and the Pirates.

Tributes have begun flowing from those who worked alongside him.

Clue co-star Lesley Ann Warren described Curry as a “brilliant, hilarious, hysterically funny, magician of artistry”, while Michael McKean said the pair’s final conversation had been about “life and love and laughter”.

“Our blessing was that we had Tim Curry in our lives. RIP, my friend,” McKean wrote.

Carol Burnett, who starred alongside Curry in Annie, remembered him as a dear friend and said “nobody could play lovable villains better than he could”.

The Muppets also paid tribute to their former Long John Silver, describing Curry as “witty, charming, unnerving, and deeply funny” and declaring that few people had more deserved the title of honorary Muppet.

Curry’s later years were marked by serious health problems.

He suffered a major stroke in 2012 that left him partially paralysed and using a wheelchair. His workload subsequently slowed, although he continued performing, particularly through voice work, and occasionally appeared publicly.

Rather than retreat entirely from the spotlight, Curry continued to meet fans and celebrate the extraordinary body of work he had created.

Last year, he published his memoir Vagabond to coincide with the 50th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And in one of his final on-camera interviews, Curry reflected on one of the great joys acting had given him throughout his life – “the freedom of being somebody else”.

Born in Cheshire, England, in 1946, Curry began his professional career in the London production of Hair in the late 1960s before embarking on a journey that would take him from the West End and Broadway to Hollywood.

Along the way, he created characters that frightened people, made them laugh and, in the case of Rocky Horror, helped generations of fans feel a little freer to be themselves.

More than 50 years after Curry first swaggered onto a stage as Frank-N-Furter, audiences are still doing the Time Warp.

They will now do it without the man who made that strange, outrageous and wonderful world unforgettable.

Curry is survived by members of his extended family, including his nieces, nephew and great-nieces.

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