Tony Curtis, a Hollywood Legend

Tony Curtis with Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot"

Tony Curtis, one of the last Hollywood legends, died last Wednesday at the age of 85 in Las Vegas. With him goes one of the last greats of the Hollywood era. It was an era of glamour and charm, of coiffed women in ball gowns with their leading men in tuxes. It is an era we will unfortunately never see again because it was before the days when people proudly tout their dysfunctions because they have neither pride nor shame.

Like many of the greats, Tony Curtis, aka Bernie Schwartz, the son of a tailor and Hungarian immigrants, had his demons. His were alcohol and drug addiction, his failed marriages, and his estrangement from his children, but in the end, he fought back and won. You have to envy a man who lived with a no-holds-barred attitude towards life, who lived according to his own precepts and principles and who brought so much joy and laughter to others, especially as "Josephene" in Billy Wilder's classic comedy, "Some Like It Hot" with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon.

His life was the punctuation mark at the end of a long, jazzy yet melodic sentence, the rose atop some thorns, and the amen at the end of a prayer. And he will be missed.