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Legendary actor Tim Curry died on August 25, 2026, from complications related to coronary artery disease. The actor was beloved for his roles in movies and TV series like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Clue, Muppet Treasure Island, IT, and many more. He was 80 years old.
Curry suffered a stroke in 2012 that left him partially paralyzed and dependent on a wheelchair for mobility. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t act as much following this incident, although he did continue to do voice work after he relearned how to speak, appearing in TV shows like Over the Garden Wall and even playing Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
We won’t hear Curry’s final performance for a couple of months yet. Before he passed, Curry recorded a part in the upcoming CGI-animated feature Barbie in the Nutcracker, a remake of the 2001 movie of the same name. That will be his final performance.
The 2001 Barbie in the Nutcracker follows the plot of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s novel The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which inspired the famous ballet The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Barbie plays the role of Clara, who wakes up on the night of Christmas Eve to find that her nutcracker toy has come to life and is fighting an army of mice led by the wicked Mouse King. The Mouse King shrinks Clara down to his size, and she and the Nutcracker escape to seek out the Sugarplum Fairy, who can undo the Mouse King’s harmful spells.
Barbie in the Nutcracker was the first CGI-animated Barbie movie, inspiring a series that continues to this day. Netflix and Mattel have teamed up to honor the movie with a remake on its 25th anniversary. Dancer Debbie Allen will serve as co-executive producer and choreographer on the new film.
As for Tim Curry, he will play the Rat King’s father. Some productions of The Nutcracker replace the Mouse King with the Rat King, and it looks like this remake will follow suit. The Rat King’s father appears to be an original character, and a nod to the fact that Tim Curry voiced the Mouse King in the 2001 movie.
From Pennywise in IT to Darkness in Legend to Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Tim Curry had a fondness for playing monstrous characters, so this feels like a fitting final role. The new version of Barbie in the Nutcracker will be available to stream on Netflix on November 1, 2026.
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