Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will feature the great work of legendary actor Tony Curtis on Sunday, October 10, with a 24-hour marathon of 12 films.  Curtis, who died Wednesday at age 85, was a longtime friend of TCM.  He appeared on the network many times and was an enthusiastic participant earlier this year in the network’s first-ever TCM Classic Film Festival.

If you have never seen a Tony Curtis movie, I highly recommend that you tune into this marathon of Curtis movies.  Kings Row, The Vikings, Operation Petticoat, The Defiant Ones, Sweet Smell of Success are good choices.  But if you can see them all great!

In looking over the list of movies, I was surprised to see how many times Curtis starred with Natalie Wood.  Three times is quite a bit by some standards. 

In 1999, Curtis was interviewed by TCM host Robert Osborne for an intimate conversation about the actor’s career.  That conversation, which was part of TCM’s Private Screenings series, will be available as an audio podcast beginning October 1, 2010 at http://tcm.com/podcast/. 

“Tony Curtis has been one of TCM’s most supportive and best friends from the time he joined us for Private Screenings to his participation in our TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood this past April,” Osborne said.  “We’ll miss him terribly as an actor, as a buoyant personality and especially as a close pal who made the world seem a much friendlier, more optimistic place to be.”

Tom Brown, TCM’s vice president of original productions, worked with Curtis on numerous occasions.  “It was a great privilege to know Tony both professionally and personally,” Brown said.  “Through his many contributions to the network, he became a beloved member of the TCM family.  He always treated everyone at the network like a friend and had a great sense of humor.  Tony once joked that TCM stands for Tony Curtis Movies.  Today, we feel like it really does.” 

You can head over to TCM’S website HERE to get the complete schedule of  Tony Curtis movies for Sunday, October 10, 2010 tribute.