Hollywood legend Tony Curtis has died, aged 85

The star of more than 140 Hollywood movies, Curtis was as well-known to fans for his lifestyle offscreen.

The father-of-six was an inveterate womaniser who married six times and had high-profile girlfriends including Marilyn Monroe and Natalie Wood.

Curtis died in bed at midnight, at his home in Henderson, Nevada, confirmed his business manager.

One of the biggest box office stars of the 1950s, he appeared in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot with Monroe and Jack Lemmon and won an Oscar nomination for 1959'sThe Defiant Ones, in which he starred with Sidney Poitier.

But Curtis also struggled with cocaine and alcohol use at points in his life, making a string of poorly received movies.

Born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx to poor Hungarian immigrants, Curtis left school to join the U.S. Navy as a teenager during the Second World War, serving on a submarine tender.

On his release he returned to New York to take acting classes.

Screen idol: Hollywood actor Tony Curtis has died, aged 85

He signed a contract with Universal Pictures which took him to Hollywood, where he made his acting debut as an uncredited rumba dancer in 1943's Criss Cross.

Curtis had a memorable role in the classic gladiator movie Spartacus in 1960 and received an Academy Award nominee for 1958's The Defiant Ones, but his career got off to a rough start.

His first starring role was in The Prince Who Was a Thief in 1951 and critics were appalled as Curtis, playing an Arabian prince, proclaimed in a thick New York accent, 'Yonduh lies de castle of de caliph, my fadder!'

Legendary role: Curtis as Josephine and Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane in the 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot

Still, Universal Pictures' star-making machinery and teen fan magazines managed to make Curtis a celebrity and movie-goers loved his dark-haired sex appeal and impish grin.

Within a few years, Curtis had improved enough for Saturday Review magazine to call him 'a rare phenomenon, an authentic screen personality who, through hard work, has made himself into an actor of considerable subtlety and some breadth.'

Two of his most enduring performances came in Some Like It Hot as he teamed with Jack Lemmon - playing cross-dressers opposite Marilyn Monroe - and The Sweet Smell of Success, in which which he played a fawning press agent.

His Oscar nomination came for the 1959 film The Defiant Ones, in which he played racist escaped con chained to Sidney Poitier. Other notable films included Houdini, Trapeze, Operation Petticoat, The Boston Strangler, The Vikings and The Great Imposter.

Curtis made more than 140 films, mixing comedies with dramas, but part of his life was plagued by poor movies and struggles with cocaine and alcohol.

Family man: Curtis with first wife Janet Leigh and their children, actresses Kelly and Jamie Lee in 1961

As fascinating to fans as his performances was Curtis' private life. He was an inveterate womanizer whose girlfriends included Marilyn Monroe and Natalie Wood.

He was married six times, starting with actress Janet Leigh in a union he later admitted was partially motivated by publicity value.

After divorcing Leigh, he married Christine Kaufman, who was 17 when they met while filming Taras Bulba.

Curtis last year; he had been confined to a wheelchair since developing health problems in recent years

Curtis was once quoted as saying: 'I wouldn't be seen dead with a woman old enough to be my wife.'

His sixth wife, Jill Vandenberg, was 45 years younger than Curtis.

Curtis' children included actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who was estranged from him for much of his life, and he admitted he was a failure as a father.

He was married six times, starting with actress Janet Leigh in a union he later admitted was partially motivated by publicity value.

After divorcing Leigh, he married Christine Kaufman, who was 17 when they met while filming Taras Bulba.

Curtis was once quoted as saying: 'I wouldn't be seen dead with a woman old enough to be my wife.'

His sixth wife, Jill Vandenberg, was 45 years younger than Curtis.

Curtis' children included actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who was estranged from him for much of his life, and he admitted he was a failure as a father.

He suffered tragedy when his son Nicholas died of a heroin overdose in 1994 aged just 23.

As his acting career waned, Curtis concentrated on painting and in 1989 he sold more than $1 million worth of his art in the first day of a Los Angeles exhibition.

'Painting is more meaningful to me than any performance I've ever given,' he told an interviewer.

Curtis eventually moved to Las Vegas. In 1989, he released an exercise videotape for people past age 50.

He operated the Shiloh Horse Rescue and Sanctuary, a refuge for horses that were abandoned or abused, on the California-Nevada border with wife Jill.

Curtis had suffered ongoing health problems in recent years.

He suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was hospitalised when he developed breathing problems in July.

Curtis nearly died when he contracted pneumonia in December 2006 and was in a coma for several days. Since then he had been confined to a wheelchair.

Tony Curtis: A life in pictures

Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx to poor Hungarian immigrants on June 3, 1925, but after taking acting classes moved to Hollywood, where movie-goers loved his dark-haired sex appeal and impish grin

Left: Curtis, right, with Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollobrigida in Trapeze in 1956 and with Jack Lemmon, left, in costume as women for Some Like It Hot in 1959

Curtis in Square Jungle in 1956 alongside John Day

First marriage: Janet Leigh and Curtis, on their wedding day in 1951; and with their daughters Kelly, then 2 1/2, and newborn Jamie Lee in Hollywood in 1959

Curtis and Christine Kaufmann pose with their daughter Alexandra in 1964, and wife son Nicholas in 1973

Curtis with daughter Jaime Lee, left, in 1994; he had six children

Curtis with daughters Alexandra and Allegra and grandchildren Rafael and Ailena in 2009 and wife Jill in 2004

Curtis posing with his Golden Camera lifetime achievement award at the in Berlin in 2004

As his acting career waned, Curtis concentrated on painting and is seen in his studio at home in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2007 and one of his last public appearances earlier this year at the 2010 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood ( dailymail.co.uk )