Editing Tony Curtis (section)

===Universal as {{nobold|"}}Anthony Curtis{{nobold|"}}===
Under contract at [[Universal Pictures]], he changed his name from Bernard Schwartz to Anthony Curtis and met unknown actors [[Rock Hudson]], [[James Best]], [[Julie Adams]] and [[Piper Laurie]].<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://www.greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/2012/04/julie-adams-at-85.html| title=Julie Adams at 85| website=Great Entertainers Archives.com| date=April 9, 2012| first=David| last=Lobosco| access-date=October 26, 2015}}</ref> The first name was from the novel ''[[Anthony Adverse]]'' and "Curtis" was from Kurtz, a surname in his mother's family.<ref name="ref091">{{cite news | last = Rizzo| first = Frank| title = My Interview With Tony Curtis | newspaper = [[Hartford Courant]] | date = October 1, 2009 | access-date = October 1, 2009| url-status=dead| archive-date = July 7, 2012 | url = http://blogs.courant.com/curtain/2009/10/my-interview-with-tony-curtis.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707005014/http://blogs.courant.com/curtain/2009/10/my-interview-with-tony-curtis.html}}</ref> Although Universal Pictures taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admitted he was initially only interested in girls and money—adding that he was pessimistic regarding his chances of becoming a major star. Curtis's biggest fear was having to return home to the Bronx as a failure:

<blockquote>I was a million-to-one shot, the ''least'' likely to succeed. I wasn't low man on the totem pole, I was ''under'' the totem pole, in a sewer, tied to a sack.<ref name=Lifemag>{{cite magazine| title=Tony Curtis in a For–Real Bronx Dream: the Bee–Yoody–Ful Life of a Movie Caliph| first=Shana| last=Alexander| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA160| magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]]| date=November 17, 1961| pages=161–176| volume=51| number=20| access-date=February 25, 2019}}</ref> </blockquote>

Curtis's uncredited screen debut came in the crime drama ''[[Criss Cross (1949 film)|Criss Cross]]'' (1949) playing a [[Rhumba|rumba]] dancer, dancing with [[Yvonne de Carlo]]. The male star was [[Burt Lancaster]] who would make a number of films with Curtis.

In his second film, ''[[City Across the River]]'' (also in 1949), he was credited as "Anthony Curtis"<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041251/ IMDB]</ref>{{User-generated inline|date=April 2024}} He had four lines in ''[[The Lady Gambles]]'' (1949) and a bigger part in ''[[Johnny Stool Pigeon]]'' (1949). He was also in ''[[Francis (film)|Francis]]'' (1950), ''[[Woman in Hiding]]'' (1950), and ''[[I Was a Shoplifter]]'' (1950).

He was additionally in three Westerns, ''[[Sierra (film)|Sierra]]'' (1950), ''[[Winchester '73]]'' (1950), and ''[[Kansas Raiders]]'' (1951), in which he was billed as "Tony Curtis".