Tim Curry’s iconic “Rocky Horror Picture Show” corset began as a three-pound market find in Glasgow, Scotland.
The British actor, who died Tuesday at 80, first wore the undergarment during a 1975 production of Jean Genet’s “The Maids” at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre, he said’s “Fresh Air” in 2005. There, he met Sue Blane, the “brilliant” costume designer who would later dress him as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film that became a cult classic.
“We bought the corset for three pounds off a barrow in the market in Glasgow,” Curry recalled in the interview, adding that he “wore it back to front” — a styling move he and Blane would repeat for “Rocky Horror.”
When “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross noted that “there’s probably nothing that can get you into character quickly like black bikini briefs, fishnet stockings, the garter belt, the corset, the whole thing,” Curry told her he “had no idea” his character would be dressed so outrageously, and that the costume “was a fairly late development.”
“I thought I’d be in a white lab coat,” he quipped.
Curry also pointed out that when you consider Frank-N-Furter’s origins, the outfit’s not actually that shocking.
“I’ve always said this to anybody who’s ever asked me about playing Frank-N-Furter … to just never think about it as drag, ’cause it’s not. It’s just what people wear in Transylvania,” he said.
Another Transylvanian fashion essential came with its own fitting challenge. Curry’s platform heels were custom-made for the movie after he found store-bought options lacking.
“I was in a shoe store, and I tried on some heels, but they were too short,” the actor explained during an interview with The Academy earlier this year. “They were sort of like trainer heels … so they had them made for the movie. And they did insist on platforms.”
The costume’s physical demands have tested subsequent performers. Luke Evans, who played Frank-N-Furter in the Broadway revival of “The Rocky Horror Show” earlier this year, described the ordeal to Seth Meyers on “Late Night” last month.
“The corset constricts you,” he told Meyers. “And of course, I’m singing these big rock songs and having to sing big, big notes.”
It’s “quite a feat,” but Evans said he had some assistance staying upright through the performance.
“In the wings, I have oxygen tanks,” he continued. “I run off and they’re dabbing me down and I’m taking a big gulp of oxygen.”
Curry originated the role in the 1973 London stage production of “The Rocky Horror Show” before reprising it for the 1975 film adaptation, which bombed initially but found its audience through midnight screenings and audience participation rituals that continue decades later. The actor suffered a stroke in 2012 that left him using a wheelchair, though he continued occasional voice work and convention appearances.
To quote Curry’s manipulative mad scientist: It’s not easy having a good time!
