John Curry

Early life Curry was born on 9 September 1949 in Birmingham, England. He had two older brothers. As a child, Curry wanted to become a dancer, but his father disapproved of dance as an activity for boys. As a compromise, in 1957, he began to take figure skating lessons he moved to London to study with Arnold Gerschwiler, who coached him to his first British title in 1971. In 1972, Curry found an American sponsor who enabled him to study in the United States with Gus Lussi, who worked with him on jumps, and Carlo Fassi, who worked with him on compulsory figures. According to figure skating historian James R. Hines, Curry "improved dramatically" under their coaching, helping him win a medal at every competition he entered in 1975 and win every competition he entered in 1976.

Competitive career Fassi coached Curry to European, World, and Olympic titles in 1976. In the same year he was the flag bearer at the Winter Olympics for Great Britain and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1976. He was the first male figure skater from Great Britain to win Olympic gold.

As an amateur competitor, Curry was noted for his ballet-like posture and extension, and his superb body control. Along with Canadian skater Toller Cranston, Curry was responsible for bringing the artistic and presentation aspects of men's figure skating to a new level. At the peak of his competitive career, Curry was also accomplished both at compulsory figures and the athletic (jumping) aspects of free skating.

During his 1976 Olympic free skate, using music from the ballet Don Quixote, he successfully landed a triple toe loop, a triple Salchow and a triple loop jump. His performance is known to have garnered the highest score ever given during the era of the 6.0 scoring in figure skating. He earned 105.9 points out of a possible 108 points from a panel of 9 international judges. Only the judges from Canada and the Soviet Union did not place him first. The programme, with its formal ballet positions and "measured restraint", Curry-Brown's concept was the antithesis to such shows. Curry turned professional and founded a touring skating company along the same lines as a traditional dance company. He also formed small skating companies that focused on "carefully choreographed and complex ensemble work skated to classical music and performed to exacting standards". Besides choreographing routines for the company, Curry commissioned works from dance choreographers such as Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Peter Martins and Twyla Tharp. Curry was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1991.

Theatre Curry's Broadway theatre credits include Icedancing (1978) as a performer and director, the 1980 revival of Brigadoon as an actor (playing Harry Beaton) and the Roundabout Theatre 1989 revival of Privates on Parade as Lance Corporal Charles Bishop.

In 1979 Curry, alongside Anthony Dowell, gave the premiere of a dance piece Top Hat and Tails using the music by Irving Berlin and choreographed by Peter Gennaro, at the Million Dollar Celebration Gala at the Metropolitan Opera House New York.

Personal life It is speculated that Curry was outed as gay by a German tabloid newspaper, Bild-Zeitung before the March 1976 World Championships. He was competing in Gothenburg as Britain's (and the world's) first openly gay high-profile sportsperson. The revelation had occurred in February 1976, when John Vinocur, a reporter from the Associated Press, interviewed him in the days prior to his Olympic victory. His report, which included quotes from Curry that were candid about his sexuality, was published 24 hours after the victory made headline news. Curry confirmed he was gay at a press conference in Innsbruck the same evening. It caused a brief scandal in Europe at the time, but Curry's sexual orientation was generally ignored by the press and public for many years afterwards.

In 1987, Curry was diagnosed with HIV and, in 1991, with AIDS. In October 1992, he gave an interview to a newspaper in which he spoke about both his disease and his sexual orientation. He spent the last years of his life with his mother. He died of an AIDS-related heart attack on 15 April 1994 in Binton, Warwickshire, aged 44. In line with his own wishes, Curry had a humanist funeral.

Donald Spoto's authorised biography of actor Alan Bates stated that Curry and Bates had a two-year affair, and that Bates helped nurse Curry in his final months.

In 2018, a documentary on Curry's life and career, The Ice King, was released by Dogwoof Pictures. The film was based on the biography Alone by Bill Jones, which was published in 2014.

Programmes Season Short programme Free skating Exhibition 1975–1976Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganiniby Sergei Rachmaninoff Don Quixoteby Ludwig Minkus Scheherazadeby Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Results International Event 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 Winter Olympics 10th 1st World Champ. 14th 9th 4th 7th 3rd 1st European Champ. 12th 7th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st St. Gervais 1st National British Champ. 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st