Tim Curry Shares Great ANNIE Stories About Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, and the Original “Easy Street”

Tim Curry had a wonderfully sleazy role as Rooster Hannigan in John Huston’s Annie, and some of his best memories from making the 1982 musical involve the people around him, both on the set and after hours.

During his visit to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library before he passed away, Curry was shown material from Huston’s papers and talked about how he developed Rooster’s restless physical personality.

“When I went to meet Huston, I told him that I'd been studying this stage hand who was never still. And he said, ‘That's very good. I like that.’”

When the interviewer pointed out that Curry seemed to draw inspiration from real people, he had a very Tim Curry response: “Often that's out of desperation.”

The library also had some amusing production notes concerning Curry’s accent. One memo from producer Ray Stark read, “Joe Leighton will find someone to help Tim Curry with his accent. Either Hoboken or East Side.”

Curry apparently never got that particular assistance. When asked about it he said: “No, I didn't have any kind of dialogue coach. I probably should have.”

Another note suggested that Curry’s “cock-a-doodle-doo” needed to be recorded again, possibly with legendary voice actor Mel Blanc doing it instead. The actor responded to that, saying: “Isn't that funny?”

Curry also had some great memories of working with Carol Burnett, who played Miss Hannigan. When filming was wrapping up, he asked Burnett what she planned to do next.

“Carol was a riot. When we were rapping, I asked her what she was going to do. She said, ‘I'm going home to Hawaii to watch the whalesing.’”

Burnett also hosted dinner parties for the cast, which apparently came with mandatory entertainment. He shared:

“She used to give dinner parties for us all. Bernardet was with Steve Martin at the time, and she would insist on laying charades after dinner. And Steve was very funny in the charades. I hated it. It was work to me.”

The “Bernardet” Curry refers to is Bernadette Peters, who played Lily St. Regis and was dating Steve Martin at the time.

Curry may not have enjoyed the charades, but the thought of Tim Curry, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, and Steve Martin sitting around playing the game after dinner sounds like one hell of a fun evening!

Curry also remembered that one of Annie’s most famous musical numbers originally looked very different. “Easy Street,” featuring Curry, Burnett, and Peters, was initially conceived as a much larger production.

“The first time we did Easy Street, we had 50 dancers. The original choreographer was a English lady called Arlene Phillips. She went very big. They realized that it was topheavy and horribly overdone and they hired Joe Leighton who was great. He had the measure of it. I loved him.”

The filmmakers eventually stripped the number down and centered it on Rooster, Miss Hannigan, and Lily, giving the three performers room to play off each other.

Curry also joked about where his head was by the time Rooster’s plan escalated to trying to murder Annie, saying: “By the time I had to kill Annie, kill you little kill. I was really ready.”

Between Curry’s wonderfully slimy Rooster, Burnett going all-in as Miss Hannigan, and Peters joining them as Lily, Annie gave its villains some of the movie’s funniest material.