Susan Sarandon wore pneumonia she got from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” pool scene as 'badge of honor,' Tim Curry says
- - Susan Sarandon wore pneumonia she got from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” pool scene as 'badge of honor,' Tim Curry says
Wesley StenzelSeptember 28, 2025 at 1:49 AM
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Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, and Susan Sarandon in 1975's 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'Key points -
Tim Curry recalled Susan Sarandon getting diagnosed with pneumonia after filming a pivotal scene in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The actor said his former costar "would tell anybody who would stand still" about her illness.
Curry made a rare public appearance at an event in Los Angeles celebrating the 50th anniversary of the musical cult classic.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show looks like it was a blast to shoot — but the set wasn't always a pleasant environment.
Tim Curry celebrated the 50th anniversary of the musical cult classic during a rare public appearance at a screening of it at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on Friday night.
At the pre-screening Q&A, the actor behind Dr. Frank-N-Furter was asked to recall any fond memories from the film's production in 1974 — and he responded with an anecdote that doesn't actually sound fond at all.
"I remember everybody shivering after the pool scene," he said of a sequence near the movie's climax in which Frank, Janet (Susan Sarandon), Brad (Barry Bostwick), and other characters end up diving into a swimming pool. "We were frozen, and the water was cold."
So cold that one cast member fell ill. "Susan actually got pneumonia," he said of the Thelma and Lousie star. "And wore it as a badge of honor. And would tell anybody who would stand still."
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Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, and Patricia Quinn in 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'
Curry went on to tell another anecdote about his former costar that he learned secondhand. "I just heard that they've been making a documentary recently, and Susan was part of it," he said. "When she sat in the chair that they provided for her, she looked at the lights and said, 'No, no, that won't do.' And she got up, rearranged all the lamps."
He added, "That's a true professional."
Sarandon confirmed her on-set pneumonia in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment in 2014.
"It was actually snowing and raining in the house and for some reason there was no heat in the studio,” the actress said. “So I had pneumonia, because I was obviously hardly dressed through a lot of it, and damp.”
The Oscar winner told the outlet that she was advised to halt her work on the film until she recovered. "And so the doctor came and said I really shouldn't go back to work 'cause I had walking pneumonia," Sarandon recalled. "And what they could do was either put me in a hot bath or warm me up between each [scene]. They thought, 'Here's the American diva.' They weren't very happy to hear any of that."
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Susan Sarandon in 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'
She added that the crew's efforts to keep her comfortable ended up causing a fire on set. "They created a screen that they put space heaters in so there was one warm place to go," she remembered. "And everybody went in there, and then it went up in flames, and that was the end of that."
However, at the Rocky Horror event on Friday, Curry said he had no memory of a fire during production. "Fire followed me from movie to movie, but I don't think there was one on that set," he said. "Rumor incorrect."
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Elsewhere at the event, Curry said the LGBTQ+ community's embrace of the film "means a lot" to him.
"I think the message of the film — 'Don't dream it, be it' — is very important," he said, adding that Rocky Horror has "given anyone permission to behave as badly as they really want to, in whatever way, and with whom."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
