Famed Actor Tony Curtis Embraced Jewish Identity
By Joshua Runyan Chabad.org/News, October 6, 2010 - 7:00 am
With the assistance of Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Mendy Harlig, actor Tony Curtis, right, makes a blessing at a public Chanukah menorah lighting ceremony in Henderson, Nev.
Tony Curtis, the Hollywood icon who successfully weathered a series of career downturns and artistic reinventions, will be remembered as one of the movie industry’s most recognizable leading men. But to many members of the Las Vegas Jewish community, Curtis – who passed away Sept. 29 at the age of 85 – will forever stand out as the jovial old man in a cowboy hat who was the guest of honor at a recent public Chanukah menorah lighting.
“I’m not ready to settle down like an elderly Jewish gentleman, sitting on a bench and leaning on a cane,” the New York-born actor, whose given name was Bernard Scwartz, once said at the age of 60, The Associated Press reported. “I’ve got a helluva lot of living to do.”