Tim Curry revealed the chilling reason he ‘loathed’ his iconic Pennywise role
Tim Curry has broken his silence on one of horror's most enduring urban legends, revealing the reason he still can't warm to one of his most famous characters.
The 79-year-old actor tragically passed away on 26th August, 2026.
He is perhaps best known to a generation of horror fans as the original Pennywise in 1990's IT, addressed the role head-on in his memoir, Vagabond.
According to People, Curry said that he 'loathes' the character to this day, despite it becoming one of the most iconic performances of his career.
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But it's not the role itself Curry takes issue with, it's something much more strange.
Why does Tim Curry dislike playing Pennywise?
For years, set legend held that Curry's own clown makeup disturbed him so badly he couldn't bear to look in a mirror.
In the book, Curry pushes back on that version of events, though he admits there was some truth buried in the exaggeration.
He said he did feel some disgust in his get up for the clown, but "Not quite to the extent that I literally couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, as has often been reported, but I certainly didn’t delight in my reflection."
He describes feeling genuinely torn when he first considered the part, writing that stepping into 'this killer clown' left him uneasy even as something pulled him toward it.
Ultimately, he said yes, despite the hesitation.
He's also keen to correct another long-running assumption: that his near-silence on the role over the decades signaled regret in taking the role.
Curry insists that isn't the case.
He does credit Stephen King's original novel and the adaptation itself, calling it a solid piece of work, while stopping short of ranking it among his most artistically fulfilling projects.
He said: "I haven't had much to say about it publicly for many years, which many people misread as my carrying some sort of deep conflict about the role. That's really not the case, but I didn't revel in the role, either.
"I have great respect for Stephen King and think it's a strong adaptation, but it wasn't exactly a Stoppard experience. Nor did I expect it to be."
What has Tim Curry said about IT fans?
It turns out the discomfort isn't really about the character at all, it's about the conversations that follow him around because of it.
Curry writes that the people who approach him about Pennywise tend to fall into one of two camps: those who seem to genuinely relish the character's menace, and those eager to tell him how badly the performance messed them up psychologically, whether that meant sleepless nights or lingering unease.
He isn't entirely without sympathy for the second group, pointing out that one of Pennywise's most famous lines is a direct threat aimed at the audience.
Still, Curry admitted he's never quite worked out how to respond when a stranger tells him he ruined their childhood, calling it an awkward opener that rarely leads anywhere pleasant.
He said: "The majority of people who want to talk to me about being Pennywise are either notably odd people, who sort of revel in his evilness, or else they want me to know that I've really traumatized them, or made it impossible to sleep, or something of that variety. I don't blame them-one of my lines is literally ‘I'm your worst dream come true'.
"But I've never really known how to respond to that. It's not the most charming conversation starter, and invariably leads to a less-than-delightful discussion to navigate.”
Curry's turn as Pennywise predates Bill Skarsgård's version in the more recent IT films by nearly three decades, but it's the 1990 performance that arguably cemented the character's place in pop culture nightmares.
Topics: Stephen King, Entertainment
Thomas Bamford