The three starring actors in The
Rocky Horror Picture Show are Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry
Bostwick. While they began their acting
careers in different arenas, they gained popularity and status from their roles
in TRHPS. Nearly forty years later, these three actors
have maintained their active acting careers.
Barry Bostwick who played Brand
and Susan Sarandon Who played Janet are both Americans selected to play against
the decisively British cast in The Rocky
Horror Picture Show. All three actors exhibit the characteristics
of being a method actor when preparing for roles; however, each actor has grown
and developed along different poet-Rocky Horror paths. According to Goodykoontz (2011), a method
actor draws from his own experiences and transfers the emotions and actions to
the character he is playing.
Barry Bostwick is a method actor has performed
in stage, movie, and television. Bostwick
began acting in high school and trained in college as an actor. Before acting in TRHPS, Bostwick performed on
Broadway in Grease as well as several other stage roles. After TRHPS, Bostwick continued to act on
stage, in movies, and in television in both guest roles and sitcom star. Almost every role has been a comedy role
(IMDB, 2014).
While Bostwick would be classified
as a method actor, Sarandon can be considered a wild card. Sarandon began her
acting career in the movies at an age older that her two counter parts. She has successfully part a variety of roles
each one different from a previous role.
Consider her role as the grandmother in the recently released movie, Tammy.
As a comedic role it is vastly different from her role in the dramatic that
brought her to fame in Thelma and Louise
(Olds, 2012). A wild card actor is defined as an actor who
is difficult to classify because he can play a variety of roles effectively
(Goodykoontz, 2011).
The undeniable star of the group, Tim
Curry trained as classical Shakespearian actor.
He began as a stage actor in 1968, performing successfully in a series
of plays in London and throughout the United Kingdom including Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Through the various stage productions he met Richard O’Brien and was
selected to play the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter in the Rocky Horror Show. His movie
debut was the revival of this role in the movie version, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Curry, 2014). Although Curry considers himself to be a
method actor, the industry considers him to be a character actor. By character actor, I mean that he maintains his
own personality within every role that he plays. He has acted in every genre including drama,
comedy, and animation, but his voice is highly recognized. He refuses to mask or Americanize his
voice. In almost every movie that he has
acted in he has played an evil character, or died by the end of the movie, or
both. This was the case with TRHPS and The Three Musketeers. In
addition to his distinctive voice, his eyes and devilishly, evil grin set him
apart from others as the quintessential villain whether playing in a comedy
such as McHale’s Navy or a drama such
as Legend (Sokol, 2013). Based on
Curry’s career and recognition, and based on Goodykoontz’s (2011) definition of
star, a person who is well-known, and popular with a distinctive screen
persona, Curry has reach the level of star status.
References:
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From
watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
IMDB. (2014). Barry Bostwick biography.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000960/bio
Olds, D. (2012). Susan sarandon talks acting. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRc5fBt6TIM
Sokol, T. (2013). Tim curry, a career retrospective.
Retrieved from http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/55873/tim-curry-a-career-retrospective
Susan Abigail Sarandon. (2014). The Biography.com website.
Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/susan-sarandon-9471729.
Timothy James Curry. (2014). The Biography.com
website. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/tim-curry-21243681
