Tim Curry, Legendary Actor Who Voiced Nigel Thornberry, Hexxus, Auntie Whispers, And Many More, Dies At 80

Tim Curry, the one-of-a-kind English actor whose unmistakable voice brought life to some of animation’s most memorable heroes, villains, eccentrics, and monsters, has died at 80.

Curry died late Tuesday night. The cause of death has not been announced, although he had experienced significant health problems since suffering a major stroke in 2012.

Best known for his live-action performances as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pennywise in It, Wadsworth in Clue, Darkness in Legend, and conniving baddie Mr. Hector in Home Alone 2, Curry’s voice acting was a huge part of his career and legacy. His website lists more than 150 voice performances across animated films and series, video games, and other voice-over projects over nearly four decades.

For a generation of Nickelodeon viewers, Curry was the unforgettable voice of eccentric and endearing wildlife documentarian Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys. He played the character throughout the show’s five-season run from 1998 to 2004, as well as in The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Rugrats Go Wild, the television special The Origin of Donnie, and several video games.

The role became one of Curry’s most recognizable performances, animated or otherwise. Nigel’s seemingly endless enthusiasm, strangled vowels, and frequent cries of “Smashing!” were suited to Curry’s gift for turning the most ordinary lines into something theatrical. Decades later, the character became one of the most enduring animation memes of the early social media era, still popping up from time to time.

There’s a slight irony in the Nigel Thornberry role being his most recognizable animation credit, in that he used his original British accent. In a syndicated 1992 interview with Frank Lovece, he explained that his motivation for trying voice acting in the first place was to practice his American accent. “One of the reasons I started doing cartoons is I really wanted to play American characters, and they let me play American characters in cartoons,” he explained. “So it’s been a way for me to work on my American accents.”

In later interviews, it became clear that the work was more than simply vocational for the performer. Curry spoke warmly about voice acting and the imaginative freedom it afforded him. “It’s nice to jump in the car, go to a [recording] studio and invent a world,” he told Publishers Weekly in 2007. “It’s a creative, lovely thing to do.” In a separate interview with The Houston Chronicle, he said he loved animation’s “eccentric style” and described Nigel Thornberry as an opportunity “to ham it up for an old stage hack.”

While the amiable Nigel Thornberry is the role that he may best be remembered for, Curry was equally adept at playing villains, a talent put to particularly memorable use in Bill Kroyer’s 1992 environmental fantasy FernGully: The Last Rainforest. As Hexxus, a shape-shifting spirit of destruction released by deforestation, Curry delivered one of the great vocal performances in a 1990s animated feature. His seductive performance of “Toxic Love,” along with incredible designs by Kathy Zielinski, helped transform a cloud of pollution into the film’s most charismatic character and one of animation’s greatest villains.

Two years prior, Curry began voicing Captain Hook in Fox’s Peter Pan and the Pirates. His performance earned him a Daytime Emmy for outstanding performer in a children’s series in 1991, making him one of the relatively rare actors to win a major individual acting award for a voice role at the time.

His other major animated villains included Skullmaster in Mighty Max, Lord Dragaunus in Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, MAL in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Dr. Anton Sevarius in Gargoyles, Taurus Bulba in Darkwing Duck, Slagar the Cruel in Redwall, and Professor Finbarr Calamitous in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.

His extensive television résumé also included roles in Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Pirates of Dark Water, Duckman, Johnny Bravo, Recess, Samurai Jack, Phineas and Ferb, Regular Show, and Ben 10: Alien Force.

Among his many animated feature credits, Curry voiced the Mouse King in Barbie in the Nutcracker, the Cat King in the English-language version of Studio Ghibli’s The Cat Returns, Drake in The Pebble and the Penguin, the Skull in Bartok the Magnificent, and Von Talon in Valiant. He also played Ben Ravencroft in the popular direct-to-video feature Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost.

 

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In 2013, following the death of Ian Abercrombie, Curry took over as Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious in Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He was a natural fit in the role, which drew on the qualities that had defined so many of his animated antagonists: precision, theatricality, menace, and the unmistakable impression that Curry took great pleasure in delivering every wicked word.

Perhaps the best example of his incredibly diverse range is his turn as the seemingly sinister Auntie Whispers in Over the Garden Wall. Initially presented as a grotesque, child-eating monster, Auntie Whispers is eventually revealed to be a protective and deeply compassionate guardian. Curry makes that transition feel entirely natural, using the same imposing vocal presence that defined so many of his villains to create one of the miniseries’ most unexpectedly tender characters.

Curry suffered a major stroke in 2012 that left him using a wheelchair and dramatically impacted his ability to speak. He nevertheless continued performing, including voice work, convention appearances, and occasional screen roles. His memoir, Vagabond, was published in 2025.

Born in Grappenhall, Cheshire, in 1946, Curry began his professional career in the original London production of Hair. He originated the role of Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show in 1973 and reprised it in the 1975 film, creating one of cinema’s defining cult performances. His long stage career earned him three Tony Award nominations for Amadeus, My Favorite Year, and Spamalot.

For animation audiences, Curry’s legacy is unimpeachable. He was not a fly-by-night celebrity occasionally dropping into the recording booth for a paycheck. His voice acting work alone would have made him a legend among fans and peers, spanning preschool series, primetime comedy, theatrical features, direct-to-video films, anime dubbing, video games, and some of the most fondly remembered cartoons of the 1990s and 2000s.