Appearing in a Hollywood musical was a dream come true for Tim Curry, as he explains in this extended vintage interview. Curry grew up on film musicals and at the time of the interview, he had just starred alongside Albert Finney, Carol Burnett and Bernadette Peters in Annie as Daniel “Rooster” Hannigan, a character he describes as “a cartoon villain… a failed gangster,” who thinks he is George Raft.

Tim Curry: He has a truly mean streak which finally develops in the end when he tries to kill Annie. [Pause] He does want to kill her, I think.

Interviewer: Does that bother you?

Tim Curry: No, not a bit. [Laughs] I find that quite easy.

Curry rarely talks about the The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but here he admits it probably damaged his film career.

“For when it worked, it worked so strongly that it left an image it was hard for producers to see through.”

But it wasn’t all bad, as the iconic role of Frank N. Furter was “practically a pension” for Tim and without it he believes he would never have made an impact on America.

This charming interview from 1981 is yet another reason to love Tim Curry.