Dolly and Tim

Illustration/Uday Mohite

On the face of it, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry had no obvious similarities, no clear common ground. One was American, one was British, the other was born in rural Tennessee, the latter in Cheshire. You wouldn't think of them as colleagues or real contemporaries.

But, then they coincidentally died on the same day, August 25, last week, both aged 80. And for me, the twain began to meet; as you watched snippets of performances, songs, interviews, six decades that both strode the earth, entertaining legions of fans and followers, you saw a clear pattern of two very talented artistes using their natural abilities to climb to the pinnacle of success.

Interestingly, both Parton and Curry were multitalented, singer-actors. Though Parton was primarily a country singer, who acted occasionally, in films like 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias, Curry's primary forte was acting; film, TV and stage, but he recorded albums too.

They were both naturally gifted, never taking their fame for granted, pushing their bodies to the limit, re-inventing themselves, not allowing for typecasting, even within genres.

The greatness in artistes lies in one basic tenet - the gift of nature made easier by hardworking nurture for actors and singers. You are blessed if you're born with a perfect instrument - the voice, and the mastery over the pitch, the projection, the perfect co-relation between diaphragm and breath control, takes a lifetime of practice, resulting in performance, both in the studio and on stage. Both these artistes spent equal amounts of time, recording and treading the boards. Dolly recording in the studio and singing live, Curry marrying screen and stage, and recording countless animation cartoon voices on a mic. Dolly Parton loved to sing and the moment she opened her mouth, her voice was blessed with natural vibratto, and it burst forth, in the solos, in the duets. You didn't have to necessarily be a country music fan to not be mesmerised by that consummate mastery. It seemed so simple, but in that simplicity, lays the complexity of hours of toil. Tim Curry had the same, a voice from heaven, silken and sturdy, voluminous and velvetty.

He had the god given ability to project his voice, he could bellow and fog horn his characters across many West End auditoriums, up several balconies. The clarity in his voice, allowed for mastery over variation, over every syllable, it gave him control over the whisper and the wail, Curry was the king creep, a chameleon who commandeered every performance, the growl and the gravelly threat were both delivered with precision to send shivers down your spine. That he could play eerie and elegant with such ease, he could play count and clown, have given his various roles so much legitimacy over the ages. That he could combine slapstick with suspense and comedy without being cartoony.

There's another term in the performing arts, the art of being "full" in performance, of committing completely to the role or the song, of going to the edge, of "risking" failure. Curry pushed himself to excel, to never be typecast, to risk from the earliest Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. That is why his legions of fans didn't just know his films, but the characters he imbibed, inhabited, and iconicised, Pennywise the terrifying clown in It, Wadsworth the frantic butler in Clue, plus a slew of roles in films that were both successful and unsuccessful, Curry remain unscathed for the sheer truth and talismanic brilliance of his acting. Parton could do the ballad and bebop, to her unique high Appalachian singing style.

Dolly Parton had a Barbie voice and Tim Curry a baritone, in either case, commercial concerns were left at the altar of skill at a given project. Curry once famously said of outcome, "Who knows?", but this duo will be heard across gramophones and generations for years. Parton's bluegrass will transcend bluetooth, and Curry's darkness and dynamism and his ability to just disappear into a character.

Take a bow, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. The curtain will never fall on you. Rest well. Rest peaceful.

Rahul daCunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, filmmaker and traveller. Reach him at rahul.dacunha@mid-day.com