Curtis's

Film historian Robert Osborne said Mr. Curtis's performance in "Some Like It Hot" was "so wonderful and such a surprise" and the movie is held in such high regard that it overcomes a later downward spiral of his career.

Tony Curtis dies at 85: Iconic actor starred in 'Some Like It Hot' Adam Bernstein 2010

The film was immensely profitable and confirmed to studio executives Mr. Curtis's sexual appeal.

Tony Curtis dies at 85; starred in 'Some Like It Hot' and 'Sweet Smell of Success' Adam Bernstein 2010

"Take Shelter" is only the second feature to be written and directed by Jeff Nichols, but it's a dazzling piece of filmmaking, and much of the dazzle—as well as the anguished darkness—comes from Adam Stone's cinematography, which expresses the swirling state of Curtis's mind with richly varied flavors of light.

'50/50': Cheerful Illness Tale, With Relapses Joe Morgenstern 2011

Simon Curtis's crowd-pleaser My Week with Marilyn, a showcase for Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe, made the lineup at the eleventh hour.

Erica Abeel: Cinema, Buzz and Champagne in the Hamptons Erica Abeel 2011

"Take Shelter" is full of sharply yet generously observed cameos: Curtis's canny co-workers on his construction jobs; a local banker, concerned with the loan's risk; a free-clinic counselor who knows she can't give Curtis the psychiatric care he desperately needs.

'50/50': Cheerful Illness Tale, With Relapses Joe Morgenstern 2011

But tornados are a dominant part of Curtis's delusions.

'50/50': Cheerful Illness Tale, With Relapses Joe Morgenstern 2011

Mr. Curtis's passion for details in 1,001 pages makes his book sometimes exhausting—did we need to know that movie executive Sol Wurtzel had "chronic constipation"?

Hollywood's Favorite Actor Jeanine Basinger 2011

When HSBC's chief executive Stuart Gulliver presented the bank's strategic review in May, it was based on Curtis's team's research, particularly reports focused on changing dynamics in emerging markets.

Meet FN's Top 100 Women in Finance Yasmine Chinwala 2011

The character, as played by Mr. Shannon, transcends the thriller genre, and the increasingly flat affect of Curtis's disease, with a hurtling inevitability that culminates in two sequences of enormous power.

'50/50': Cheerful Illness Tale, With Relapses Joe Morgenstern 2011

Explore the new homes described in Wayne Curtis's story

After the Flood 2009