OBIT: Tony Curtis Dead at 85!

Tony Curtis, the screen icon best known for starring in Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, has died of cardiac arrest aged 85 at his Las Vegas home. His daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that her father had passed away. Curtis—who appeared in more than 100 films in a screen career that spanned seven decades—was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in 1959's The Defiant Ones.

Curtis, born to a Bronx tailor, started his career as a '50s heartthrob before becoming a respected actor, the AP notes. After battling drug and alcohol addiction, he became a character actor in his later years and started painting, selling works for as much as $20,000. "I'm not ready to settle down like an elderly Jewish gentleman, sitting on a bench and leaning on a cane," he said at 60. "I've got a helluva lot of living to do."

Had the pleasure of meeting Curtis in 2003, when 'Some like it hot'. the musical was in town. He was very proud of his contributions to the gay audience. He will be missed.