Friends Say 'Tim Curry Wanted to Die' After 14 Years of Paralysis

Tim Curry’s closest friends say the legendary actor had come to see death as a possible relief after spending 14 years living with the devastating effects of a stroke.

Curry died “peacefully” at his Los Angeles home at the age of 80, his representative confirmed. Now, those who knew him best are opening up about how difficult his final years had become.

“He was such a lively and animated person with so much talent in his fingertips that he missed the life that he had before his devastating stroke, as it took so much from him,” one insider told Daily Mail.

“The past few years have taken a tremendous toll on his health,” they added.

Scott Stander, producer of anniversary tours of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, said, “He’s been in that body for 14 years not doing what he loves to do, run around and jump on stage and do musicals and sing and dance,” adding, “But you know what? That’s there forever. His legacy is there forever.”

Friends insist Curry still had a “zest for life” and was grateful for the years he had been given.

“Tim was grateful for life and the life he had; he was happy and always ready for a laugh. But death, he wasn’t afraid of it," one source said. “

Another source said the veteran actor’s death was, sadly, something some of his loved ones believed he may have welcomed.

“Though sad, since Tim still had a zest for life, it also comes as a small relief to people who really knew him and knew how he was feeling the last few years,” they said, adding, “Most that knew him would say that he would consider it a bit of a relief as well.”

“Some of his friends think he was, in a way, happy to finally go because it was hard for him,” another insider added.

That painful reality began in 2012, when Curry suffered a major stroke at 66 at his Los Angeles home.

“I was having a massage at the time, and I didn’t even actually notice anything, but the guy who was doing the massage said, ‘I’m worried about you, I want to call an ambulance,’” Curry recalled in his memoir, Vagabond.

He initially thought the ambulance was unnecessary. But the decision saved his life.

“I probably owe my life to the fact that he ignored me, went with his instinct, and called an ambulance,” he wrote.

Doctors discovered blood clots in his brain and performed emergency surgery. The stroke left the cult-film legend partially paralyzed, with serious problems affecting his mobility, speech and memory.

“I could comprehend words, but they did not register or settle without effort,” he wrote.

Learning to speak again was particularly painful for the actor.

“That part was exceptionally frustrating, because thoughts were forming again, but articulating them was such a monumental stretch,” Curry recalled.

For years, he relied on a wheelchair and was unable to return to the singing and dancing that had made him famous.

At a 2025 Rocky Horror anniversary celebration, Curry offered fans a rare glimpse into his reality.

“I still can’t walk, which is why I’m in this silly chair, and that’s very limiting. So I won’t be singing, and I won’t be dancing very soon," he told the audience.