Tim Curry Accepts Lifetime Achievement Award In Rare Appearance

Tim Curry accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award in a rare appearance on Sunday.

Curry, known best for his role as Dr. Frank N Furter in the 1975 cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, attended the Tony Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 7, marking one of the few times he has been seen in public since he suffered a stroke in 2012.

Despite his medical condition, Tim Curry seemed to be in good health as he accepted the Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award. He told the Los Angeles Magazine that he was “doing well” and was “looking forward” to receiving the honor.

Rocky Horror star makes rare public appearance three years after suffering stroke http://t.co/7rZIhDnr90 pic.twitter.com/RvTOg9fdgE

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“I’m doing well and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve done a few benefits for the Actors Fund and I think it’s a marvelous organization. I hope not to have to use it,” Curry said.

The Actors Fund is “a nationwide human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund is a safety net, providing programs and services for those who are in need, crisis or transition,” according to their official website ActorsFund.org.

“It means that it just sort of solidifies the kind of work the American acting community has given me for years now,” the actor said, when he was asked what it meant to him to be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. “It’s very gracious of them, I think. I was thrilled when they told me and I am thrilled now.”

Curry says his sense of humor has helped him remain optimistic since his July, 2012, stroke that left him wheelchair bound and his speech impaired.

“It’s not tough to maintain,” he explained. “It is just part of my DNA.”

Curry first starred as the transvestite doctor in the original 1973 production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He continued it on Broadway and then later played the role in the film adaptation that co-starred Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, the New York Daily News reports.

“It’s neither a blessing nor a curse,” he said of the role that thrust him into stardom. “I was lucky to get it.”

[Photo by Kevin Winter, Evening Standard / Getty Images]