What Tim Curry Said About His Health & Stroke Before His Death

Curry, who noted that his face "went sideways" after the stroke, also had to relearn basic tasks, like talking.

"I was in hospital for a while, I think about a month," he recalled. "I had a certain amount of rehabilitation. I had to learn how to speak again. That was very weird."

"I hated not being able to speak because I speak a lot," Curry admitted. "I have to be told to shut up a lot. I love words. I love to communicate."

The Emmy Award winner went to the hospital after his at-home massage therapist had noticed stroke symptoms during their appointment.

"I felt fine," he emphasized. "I had no symptoms that I was aware of, but clearly he had noticed some. He called 911. An ambulance came, and they carried me down the stairs of my house on a stretcher."

He also noted that the emergency medical service workers didn't know that he was having a stroke. Curry, who was diagnosed at the hospital, thought back to himself, then age 11, seeing his dad James Curry having a stroke.

"I knew that a lot of people didn't survive a stroke and that he was an exception," he recalled. "So, I was scared." 

But more than a decade after his medical crisis, Curry no longer feared dying.

"I try to avoid it as I think we all do, but I suspect that in the end I will welcome it," he reflected. "I think it may be very comforting to go bye-bye and I want to earn it. I want to earn the privilege of not being here. I'm not galloping towards it." 

Curry posited, "I may well embrace it."

Keep reading for a look back at Curry's life and legendary career.