The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • B14

B14 The Boston Globe FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 Obituaries Tony Curtis; era-spanning actor won hearts with charm, humor TWUMAS LAJN UKKS GLUBE STAFFFILE iyty Albert Surman created The Liberty Tree, which, after the World's Fair, had a stay on Boston Common (above). Albert Surman; designed Liberty Tree for World's Fair MGM STUDIOS Tony Curtis (left) with Jack Lemmon in a scene from their 1959 film "Some Like It Hot," his best-known movie role. He displayed both Studio Age glamour and a streetwise attitude, featured in "Sweet Smell of Success," a 1957 film with Burt Lancaster (below). By Gloria Negri GLOBE STAFF In 1964, the New England pavilion of the World's Fair in New York City featured the Revolutionary War's iconic Liberty Tree, re-created by Cambridge-born artist Albert A. Surman.

"He created the large-scale sculpture, a stylized tree composed of thousands of metal tubes as the centerpiece of his design for the New England pavilion," said his son, Barry S. of Scarsdale, NY. "It symbolized an actual tree where the Sons of Liberty posted notices until it was chopped down by the British in the early days of the American Revolution. The sculpture's multicolored glass leaves reflected New England's famous fall colors." Mr. Surman, who by all accounts was a quiet man who never bragged about his talent as an artist and designer, died Sept.

21 at the Royal Nursing Center in Falmouth of complications of diabetes and Parkinson's disease. He was 76 and had lived in Mashpee since retiring in 2002. Mr. Surman's artistic talents ranged widely, to include drawings, watercolors, cartoons, and design. They were used by the Army and the Chrysler Corp.

until he struck out on his own and founded DesignhousGraphics Inc. outside Detroit. "His projects there ranged from store interiors to corporate logos, manuals, and presentations," his son said. His name will forever be linked to The Liberty Tree, which, after the World's Fair, had a stay on Boston Common, where it was vandalized before being removed. In 1972, it became the anchor "refurbished and re-adorned with glass foliage," his son said at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers.

Born in Cambridge, Mr. Surman graduated from Cambridge High and Latin School in 1951 and received a bachelor of arts degree in art and design from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1955. His artistic talent was used as an enlisted man in the Army at Fort Drum in Watertown, N.Y., where he painted targets for artillery practice and the stars on the helmets of generals, among other assignments, his son said. "After the World's Fair project, he was recruited to lead the exhibit design group at Chrysler Corp. in Detroit," where he worked for six years, his son said.

Mr. Surman used his talents to help friends and organizations quietly, without compensation. Ted Kelley of Harwichport, a friend since 1974 when Kelley used to teach and coach hockey at the private Cranbrook School in Bloomfield, recalled By Mark Feeney GLOBE STAFF Tony Curtis, whose brash charm and matinee-idol looks helped make him one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1950s and early '60s, died of cardiac arrest Wednesday at his Las Vegas-area home. He was 85. Mr.

Curtis, who appeared in more than 120 movies, was best-known for his roles as a cross-dressing musician in "Some Like It Hot" (1959); an amoral publicist in "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957); a chain-gang escapee in "The Defiant Ones" (1958), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor; and a rebellious slave in "Spartacus" (1960). "All Tony ever wanted to be was a movie star," his wife, Jill, told the Associated Press. "He didn't want to be the most dramatic actor. He wanted to be a movie star, ever since he was a little kid." In 1958, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association named Mr. Curtis "the world's favorite movie actor." He was Hollywood royalty, married to a fellow movie star, Janet Leigh (they would divorce in 1962), and the father of a future movie star, Jamie Lee Curtis.

"My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances," his daughter said in a statement. "He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and inlaws who were devoted to him. He also leaves behind fans all over the world." Mr. Curtis was, in many ways, a bridge between the Studio Age of the '30s and '40s and the eruption of youth culture in the '60s. He was signed to a long-term studio contract and groomed for stardom in the traditional way.

Yet he proved especially appealing to the young (Elvis Presley dyed his hair black in homage to Mr. Curtis, his favorite movie star). The distinctive sound of his speech like a man with a head cold sipping an egg cream gave a naturalistic underpinning to his almost preternaturally good looks. He possessed both Studio Age glamour and streetwise attitude. Many of Mr.

Curtis's early films were costume epics, such as "The Prince Who Was a Thief" (1951), "Son of Ali Baba" (1952), and "The Black Shield of Fal-worth" (1954). Comics took to reciting the line "Yondah lies the castle of my faddah" in Mr. Curtis's unmistakable accent. But the athletic demands of such roles he met with ease. "I was a very physical actor," he said in a 2003 Globe interview.

"I'd been always jumping over cars, down fire escapes." That physicality was an essential ingredient in his appeal. So was a fundamental insouciance. Early on in "Sweet Smell of Success," his character's girlfriend asks if he is listening to her. "Avidly, avidly," Mr. Curtis says, continuing to ignore her.

Dazzlingly disingenuous, that delivery captures Mr. Curtis's screen persona. Always there's an avidity to his characters, a hunger. It's the eagerness of a man so clearly on the make he disarms you with the transparency of his ambition. Yet there's also a certain detachment, a sense of being in on a big, ongoing joke.

Asked in that Globe interview to describe his screen image, Mr. Curtis said: "I was an attractive lad, very handsome, you know. Very disarming in my behavior. I always tried to be funny with the girls, because I knew to get close to a girl you got to make her laugh." His looks won him female hearts both onscreen and off. The self-appointed "kissing coach" as an aspiring actor at Universal-International Pictures in the late '40s, he married six times.

As he wrote in his 1993 autobiography, "One of the few leading ladies I didn't have an affair with was Jack Lemmon," who played Mr. Curtis's fellow cross-dressing musician in "Some Like It Hot." Bernard Schwartz was born June 3, 1925, in the Bronx, NY. His father, Manuel, was a tailor. His mother, Helen (Klein), was a housewife. Mr.

Curtis, who spoke Hungarian at home, didn't learn to speak English until age 5. A self-described "near-delinquent," Mr. Curtis was an indifferent student, less interested in school than in gang life and going to the movies. After seeing Cary Grant play a submarine commander in "Desti- Albert Surman's artistic talents ranged widely. He was successful with watercolors, cartoons, and design.

ALBERT SURMAN that Mr. Surman was always "very supportive and generous with his professional time, which included designing T-shirts when the school's hockey team played in Russia in the late 1970s. "Al designed the shirts, and we sold them to pay for the trips of those who couldn't afford to get there at their own expense. When his son was at school at Cranbrook, Al was a very supportive parent and an ideal father." Kelley added that even though Mr. Surman was in Detroit "for a long time, he remained devoted to Boston and the Red Sox." Another friend, Eric Reid of Detroit, who met Mr.

Surman in the loose-leaf binding business and observed that even his commercial work had the touch of an artist, "Al was an artist," he said. Mr. Surman's Liberty Tree was removed from the mall in Danvers in 1992, a mall spokeswoman said. Its fate is a mystery, she said. Barry Surman said its whereabouts are also unknown to the family.

In addition to his son, Mr. Surman leaves his wife, Barbara (Ulin); a sister, Selma of Boston; a daughter, Laura Estrada of Boxborough; two grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren. Services have been held. His remains were buried during a private ceremony at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. Gloria Negri can be reached at negriglobe.com.

"He played on that 1948 team, was the first Ail-American this university ever had," Ault said Tuesday. "He loved this university. He followed us and was an avid fan of our football program." Mr. Heath led the nation in passing, total offense, and touchdown passes in 1948. The Green Bay Packers made him the fifth pick in the National Football League draft that year.

He played one year in Green Bay before he played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders. He starred on Nevada's 1947 and '48 teams, which went a combined 18-4. In a 1948 game against Oklahoma City, Mr. Heath threw five touchdown passes, a school record that stood for 30 years. FILM FORUM notable films as "The Last Tycoon" (1976), playing an aging romantic lead battling impotence, and "Insignificance" (1985), as Senator Joe McCarthy, he spent more and more time appearing on television and in low-budget features such as "Casanova and Co." (1977), "The Bad News Bears Go to Japan" (1978), and "Brainwaves" (1982).

Mr. Curtis spent the '70s and early '80s battling drug abuse. "I couldn't face the realities of being married," he said in that Globe interview, "the kind of movies I was making, the environment I was in." After overcoming his dependencies, Mr. Curtis devoted most of his time to painting and constructions. The Butler Institute of American Art, in Youngstown, Ohio, gave him a one-man exhibition in 1992.

Mr. Curtis returned to the stage in 2002 to appear in a musical version of "Some Like It Hot," as the millionaire playboy Osgood (the part played by Joe E. Brown in the movie). He garnered uneven reviews, though almost all commented on the enthusiasm he brought to performing. Clearly, he relished the attention.

"I've never been able to understand how other actors could not appreciate it," he said. "It's a glorifying feeling, the way people look at you." In addition to his wife and daughter Jamie Lee, Mr. Curtis leaves three other daughters, Kelly, also from his marriage to Leigh, and Alexandra and Allegra, both from his marriage to Christine Kaufmann; and a son, Benjamin. A son, Nicholas, died in 1994. Stan Heath; ex-quarterback for Nev.

was Heisman finalist ancestors named Kertesz. With growing popularity, Mr. Curtis began to star in better pictures: "Houdini" (1953), with Leigh as costar; "Six Bridges to Cross" (1955), based on the 1950 Brink's robbery in the North End; and "Trapeze" (1956). Mr. Curtis appeared in numerous comedies, among them, "Mister Cory" (1957), "The Perfect Furlough" (1958), "Forty Pounds of Trouble" (1962), and "The Great Race" (1965).

None had the impact of "Some Like It Hot." "I was very nervous about getting dressed up as a girl," Mr. Curtis recalled in 2003, whereas Lemmon "had no problems with it. We realized it was the perfect symmetry for the two of us. Let him be the flaunty one; let me be the more quiet one, which fit our characters perfectly." As the '60s heated up, Mr. Curtis's career cooled.

He began to specialize in lamely risque comedies with such titles as "Sex and the Single Girl" (1964), "Not With My Wife You Don't" (1966), "Don't Make Waves," and "The Chastity Belt" (both 1967). Yet he also gave what he considered his most rewarding performance, playing the title role in "The Boston Strangler" (1968). "It gave me an opportunity to do something in films I hadn't had a chance to," Mr. Curtis later recalled. "I was never considered a good actor.

I was considered popular, certainly, but I never had parts that really asked me to do anything. When I was in the there was nothing like it. For me it was the ultimate acting experience." Although Mr. Curtis gave strong performances in such AFP GETTY IMAGES Mr. Curtis with wife Janet Leigh in Beverly Hills in 1961.

nation Tokyo" (1943), he enlisted in the US Navy, hoping to become a submariner. He ended up a signalman on a tender. (Mr. Curtis would famously parody Grant in his "Some Like It Hot" love scenes with Marilyn Monroe; the two later costarred, playing submarine officers, in the 1959 comedy "Operation With his GI Bill benefits, Mr. Curtis studied acting with Erwin Piscator at the New School for Social Research.

Classmates included Walter Matthau and Harry Belafonte. He acted in several plays and, appearing in the title role in a small revival of "Golden Boy," was seen by a Universal talent scout, who signed him to a $75-a-week contract. A brief appearance dancing with Yvonne De Carlo in "Criss Cross" (1949), his first movie, drew fan letters, and Mr. Curtis was on his way. He took the name Curtis in honor of Hungarian ASSOCIATED PRESS RENO Stan Heath, an All-America quarterback at Nevada who finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1948, has died.

He was 83. Mr. Heath died at his home in Jesup, on Sunday the same day Nevada cracked the Associated Press poll for the first time since that 1948 team. He had been battling cancer. Mr.

Heath was an inaugural member of the University of Nevada Athletic Hall of Fame and one of the quarterbacks on Nevada's Team of the Century, sharing the honor with Chris Vargas. "When I played here, he was my idol," said Nevada coach Chris Ault, the Wolf Pack's quarterback in the early 1970s..