Tony Curtis

So he can act. But can he paint ? Yes, was the consensus at the first Los Angeles exhibition of works by Tony Curtis. The sixtysomething, silver-haired Curtis drew a sizable crowd to the Beverly Hilton on Saturday night for a reception and viewing of his extensive collection of acrylics, pen and ink drawings and sketches, most done at his home in Hawaii. If his name was the draw, most were pleasantly surprised by Curtis' canvases. "This is top grade," said a fellow painter who said his name was "Ellis--first and last.

The spotlight shines this week on legendary film stars Debbie Reynolds, Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift. Reynolds, who turned 81 on Monday and has a new book coming out, "Unsinkable," came to fame in the 1950s and is still going strong.  American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre is celebrating the musical-comedy star with "A Hollywood Life: The Unsinkable Debbie Reynolds" retrospective. It starts Thursday evening with the 1955 romantic comedy "The Tender Trap" with  Frank Sinatra and the 1963 comedy "Mary, Mary" with Barry Nelson.

Tony Curtis was a strikingly handsome 23-year-old native New Yorker playing the lead in an off-Broadway production of "Golden Boy" in 1948 when he was spotted by a Universal Pictures talent scout. Sent west for a screen test, he signed a seven-year contract at $75 a week. "I got into movies so easy it was scary," Curtis told the Denver Post in 1996. The former Bernie Schwartz went on to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1950s and '60s, one whose early reputation as a "pretty boy" tended to blur recognition of his growth and range as an actor who starred in some of his era's landmark films.

In the John Sturges film "Bad Day at Black Rock," Ernest Borgnine played a thuggish desert rat named Coley Trimble who - with menace coiled in his neck and voice - memorably tried to pick a fight with Spencer Tracy's character, the movie's unwelcome outsider: "I'm half-hoss, half-alligator. You mess with me - and I'll kick a lung outta ya. Whaddya think of that?" In later decades, Borgnine's gap-toothed grin and taxi-stand bellow would make him a bear-hug presence whether he was the title character in the 1960s series "McHale's Navy," the feckless cabbie in John Carpenter's 1981 "Escape From New York" or retiree Bert O'Riley reconnecting with family in "A Grandpa for Christmas," the 2007 Hallmark Channel production that earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Re "An Ever-Hot Career," by Susan King, June 10: Some say that his best work is that of Josephine in "Some Like It Hot" with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, but it seems like all the work of Tony Curtis is memorable in some fashion. From his character of the Great Leslie in "The Great Race" to true-life characters in such films as "The Great Impostor," "The Boston Strangler" and "Houdini," his performances never cease to entertain and amaze us. Bill Spitalnick Newport Beach

Tony Curtis, who mixed drinks and managed the bar at Casa Roma restaurant in Lancaster for more than a dozen years, has died at his Lancaster residence. He was 74. Curtis died Thursday of cancer, said his son, Jack Curtis. Born June 17, 1916, in Hawaii, Curtis came to California as a child and served in the Army during World War II. He later worked as a bartender at a Bakersfield hotel before starting at Casa Roma in 1967.

Film star Tony Curtis says an addiction to heroin and cocaine took him to the depths of depravity but he kicked his habit after realizing he was losing his power to attract women. In an interview published by the London-based Woman magazine, the 63-year-old actor said he had been taking drugs since he went into show business. Starting with sleeping pills, he had ended up hooked on cocaine and heroin. "I lived through the depths of depravity," he said.

Actor Tony Curtis will appear at the 6th annual Senior Harvest Hoedown on Saturday Sat Huntington Pacifica Park. The event, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., will feature entertainment, bingo, gifts, informational booths geared toward senior citizens and other activities. There is no admission charge. A pancake breakfast will be held from 8 to 10 a.m. Lunch will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Huntington Beach Council on Aging and the city.

Tony Curtis doesn't mince any words on Turner Classic Movies' interview series "Private Screenings," which kicks off its third season on Tuesday. The veteran star of more than 100 films--including such classics as "Trapeze," "Spartacus," "Sweet Smell of Success" and "Some Like It Hot"--discusses his early life and career in the one-hour special hosted by Robert Osborne.

Tony Curtis has always been a compulsive drawer of pictures. He thinks of them as his little Polaroids of the heart. He can look at a sketch he made 30 years ago and remember everything about the room, everything about the way he felt that hour. Tony Curtis is also a pack rat. Boots, hats, old letters, walking sticks, you name it, he's got a pile of it stashed somewhere. On occasion, the artist and the pack rat collide. Then Curtis builds a box.

Oscar memories When presenter Tony Curtis announced at the Oscar ceremony on April 14, 1969, that Ruth Gordon had won for her supporting role in "Rosemary's Baby," the 72-year-old Gordon displayed her trademark wit. "I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is," she quipped, to huge applause and laughter from the crowd. Gordon was no novice. She had been acting since 1915, primarily onstage. In the late 1930s, Gordon came to Hollywood, where she appeared in such films as 1940's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois.

Tony Curtis was a strikingly handsome 23-year-old native New Yorker playing the lead in an off-Broadway production of "Golden Boy" in 1948 when he was spotted by a Universal Pictures talent scout. Sent west for a screen test, he signed a seven-year contract at $75 a week. "I got into movies so easy it was scary," Curtis told the Denver Post in 1996. The former Bernie Schwartz went on to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1950s and '60s, one whose early reputation as a "pretty boy" tended to blur recognition of his growth and range as an actor who starred in some of his era's landmark films.

Actor Danny Huston recalls the first time he saw "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." "I remember projecting it literally on a wall in Ireland as I was growing up. It was how I said hello to my grandfather," he says. That grandfather was the great character actor Walter Huston, who died before his grandson was born, and the film was directed by his legendary father, John Huston. The 1948 morality tale about a trio of greedy gold prospectors, which also starred Humphrey Bogart, is one of the films that Huston and his sister, actress Anjelica Huston, will be presenting at the inaugural TCM Classic Film Festival, kicking off Thursday in Hollywood.

Re "An Ever-Hot Career," by Susan King, June 10: Some say that his best work is that of Josephine in "Some Like It Hot" with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, but it seems like all the work of Tony Curtis is memorable in some fashion. From his character of the Great Leslie in "The Great Race" to true-life characters in such films as "The Great Impostor," "The Boston Strangler" and "Houdini," his performances never cease to entertain and amaze us. Bill Spitalnick Newport Beach

Tony Curtis: In an article in Wednesday's Calendar about actor Tony Curtis, the last name of escape artist Curtis Lovell II was misspelled as Love.

Tony Curtis, the 1950s matinee idol who developed into an acclaimed actor in such classics as "Some Like It Hot," "Sweet Smell of Success" and "The Defiant Ones," was in a reflective mood recently. "I'm just a lucky guy," said Curtis over the phone from his home in Las Vegas. "I am having such a wonderful life. " FOR THE RECORD: In a previous version of this article, the last name of escape artist Curtis Lovell II was misspelled as Love. Perhaps it was his birthday on June 3 that sparked this mellow feeling.

Stewart Schill's funny, anguished and on-target "The Continued Adventures of Reptile Man (And His Faithful Sidekick Tadpole)" affords a glorious role for Tony Curtis in what is arguably one of the half-dozen best performances of his career. Curtis is actor Jack Steele, whose claim to fame rests entirely, it would seem, on "Reptile Man," a TV series that ran from 1965 to '69.

Tony Curtis figures he'll be a young handsome boy in perpetuity. It's not that he hasn't had to confront the same realities as other 70-year-olds; he's just ignoring them: * In Huntington Beach at a weekend event, he schmoozes with those his age and older . . . but has his 25-year-old girlfriend at his side. * In a nearly 50-year movie career, he has starred in such classics as "Some Like It Hot" and "Spartacus" . . .

BY the late 1950s, the golden age of the major Hollywood movie studios was fading. Television was the main culprit, and the increasing popularity of the small screen pushed feature films in a more mature direction to lure adults out of the living room and into theaters.