Tony Curtis (Bernard Schwartz)
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Historical Quotes
Tony Curtis (Bernard Schwartz)
By Tom Kirvan
Bernard Schwartz was born in the Bronx in 1925, the son of Jewish immigrants from Hungary, and lived an unsteady life that included Navy service during World War II, where he sustained a leg injury.
“I enlisted when I was a boy,” said Schwartz. “The Navy looked after me like my mother. It fed me, took care of me, and gave me wonderful opportunities.”
With the help of the G.I. Bill, he studied at the Dramatic Workshop in New York, eventually signing a seven-year contract with Universal Studios in 1948 under the stage name of Tony Curtis.
The new identity, coupled with his good looks and natural acting talent, catapulted Curtis to fame in the 1950s with critically-acclaimed performances in “The Defiant Ones” and “Some Like It Hot.” The distinctive roles spanned diverse genres and earned Curtis an Academy Award nomination for best actor in “The Defiant Ones,” a 1958 film that also starred Sidney Poitier.
A year later, Curtis appeared in a pair of military comedies, “The Perfect Furlough” and “Operation Petticoat,” in which he played a submarine officer serving under a captain played by Cary Grant. Both films were box-office hits.
But it was his performance in “Some Like It Hot” for which Curtis was best known, acting in a dual role as a Chicago musician and an oil heir who tries to seduce a voluptuous singer portrayed by Marilyn Monroe.
Tony Curtis
(Bernard Schwartz)
“Hollywood – the most sensational merry-go-round ever built,” Curtis said of his movie-making career.
His personal life was at times turbulent and included six marriages, most notably to actress Janet Leigh from 1951-62. He fathered six children, including Jamie Lee Curtis, the star of such movies as “Halloween” and “Trading Places.”
Curtis died of cardiac arrest on September 29, 2010 at the age of 85, and was remembered as an iconic figure from Hollywood’s golden age.
But 10 years before his death, Curtis expressed his frustration about the fickle nature of fame.
“Here in America, you have to die before they say something nice about you,” he declared.
*s_bukley (2008 July 11). Tony Curtis at the Turner Network's Summer 2008 TCA press Tour. Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA [Photograph]. Shutterstock. Retrieved August 27, 2026 from Shutterstock