Remembering Tony Curtis, Leading Ladies' Man

By Nicki Gostin Posted Sep 30th 2010 05:12PM

Tony Curtis, who was born in The Bronx with the more prosaic name Bernie Schwartz, was the epitome of old school movie star. He had matinee looks and casting agents nicknamed him 'ice cream face' because of his smooth complexion. He also had a tempestuous personal life -- and a notorious way with the ladies -- that made for great copy.

Early on in his career he began a brief relationship with a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe whom he met through her room mate Shelley Winters. She remembered that Curtis had arrived at her apartment one day and announced that his mother knew her aunt back in the Bronx who said that Shelley should take care of him until he got settled.

By his own account, Curtis slept with hundreds of women including an affair with 'Rebel Without a Cause' beauty, Natalie Wood. About the starlet system that was firmly in place when he was climbing to fame, he once said, "These girls of 18 or 20 were fodder. All the guys at the studios, including myself, would feast on them, taking their sweetness. There were a lot of them. I don't remember their names. Then they would go home and get married. Poor darlings. They came and went."

In 1951 he married Janet Leigh and the pair became a Hollywood golden couple. Curtis admitted that he wed the Psycho actress in small part to help his career. "I could see the two of us could get more attention together," he said. "We had the paparazzi wherever we went, we were on the cover of all the movie magazines. It wasn't enough for a man to be cute, he had to be connected to the right woman."

They had two daughters together including actress Jamie Lee Curtis but by the early sixties the marriage was already in trouble. When Leigh found out that German actress Christine Kaufman, Curtis's 17-year-old co-star in 'Taras Bulba,' was pregnant she sued for divorce.

Curtis and Kaufman had two children before parting ways five years later in 1967.

The following year he married 23-year-old model Leslie Allen. One of their two children, Nicholas died of a drug overdose at the age of 23, something which Curtis admitted he never fully recovered from. Their marriage lasted 14 years, his longest, and ended in 1982.

Curtis never waited very long to get re-married and a year after his divorce from Allen he married B-movie actress Andria Savio. They split up in 1992 and a year later he married Lisa Deutsch. A year after that, he and Deutsch shut it down and Curtis took four years off before marrying his sixth wife, Jill Vandenberg, a horse trainer who was 42 years his junior.

Vandenberg stuck with Curtis to the end and after his death on Sept. 29, offered kind words about her husband.

"He died peacefully here, surrounded by those who love him and have been caring for him," said Jill in a statement from their Las Vegas home. "All Tony ever wanted to be was a movie star. He didn't want to be the most dramatic actor. He wanted to be a movie star, ever since he was a little kid."

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Comments

(2)

Thursday 30 September

By Bud Steffen

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Tony Curtis was a real inspiration - growing up in Detroit Michigan in the 1950's - 1960's.

He was everyone's favorite - great movies such as Trapeze and Spartacus, Some like it Hot, etc.

We miss you Tony - thanks for the memories. A fan-Bud Steffen

Friday 01 October

By Penny

He was one of my idols growing up and I thought he was so handsome. As a young girl I always fantasized about him. I am 56 now and will always hold him in my heart with many fond memories of his performances. My sincere condolences to his family, having lost my parents I know how they feel.

Best Wishes

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