Editing Tony Curtis (section)

==Early life==
Tony Curtis was born '''Bernard Schwartz''' on June 3, 1925, in Manhattan, New York, to Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz.<ref name=a&e>{{cite web|title=Tony Curtis biography|url=http://www.biography.com/articles/Tony-Curtis-9263844|work=biography.com|publisher=A&E Television Networks|accessdate=August 11, 2011|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907041843/http://www.biography.com/articles/Tony-Curtis-9263844|archivedate=September 7, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=encyclopedia>{{cite web|title=Curtis, Tony 1925–|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Tony_Curtis.aspx|work=Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television|publisher=encyclopedia.com|accessdate=August 11, 2011}}</ref> 
Biographies have propagated a misconception that he was born in the Bronx, probably due to the family's moves when he was very young, but Tony pointedly corrected this in a TV interview.<ref>{{cite web|title=Interview with cable TV host Skip E Lowe|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmwPhwN0pHA?t=115|accessdate=31 August 2017}}</ref>
His parents were Jewish emigrants from [[Czechoslovakia]] and [[Hungary]]: his father was born in [[Ópályi]], near [[Mátészalka]], and his mother was a native of [[Nagymihály]] (now [[Michalovce]], [[Slovakia]]); she later said she arrived in the US from Válykó (now Vaľkovo, [[Slovakia]]).<ref>[http://www.slovenskecentrum.sk/sk/news/read/15615/usa-zomrel-americky-herec-tony-curtis-po-matke-slovenskeho-povodu Zomrel americký herec Tony Curtis, po matke slovenského pôvodu] (Slovak); ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'', S06E20, 9 February 1956. 02:08-02:20.</ref> He did not learn English until he was five or six, delaying his schooling.<ref name="tcmcurtis"/> His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop—his parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother once made an appearance as a participant on the television show ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'', hosted by [[Groucho Marx]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD8WHdPpMCA |title=You Bet Your Life 0 |publisher=[[YouTube]] |accessdate=July 1, 2011}}</ref> Curtis said, "When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with [[schizophrenia]]. His brother Robert was [[Involuntary commitment|institutionalized]] with the same mental illness.

When Curtis was eight, he and his brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck. Curtis joined a neighborhood gang whose main crimes were playing hooky from school and minor pilfering at the local dime store. When Curtis was 11, a friendly neighbor saved him from what he felt would have led to a life of [[Juvenile delinquency|delinquency]] by sending him to a [[Boy Scout]] camp, where he was able to work off his energy and settle down. He attended [[Seward Park High School]]. At 16, he had his first small acting part in a school stage play.<ref name=Lifemag/>
===War Service===
Curtis enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] and war was declared. Inspired by [[Cary Grant]]'s role in ''[[Destination Tokyo]]'' and [[Tyrone Power]]'s in ''[[Crash Dive]]'' (1943), he joined the [[United States Asiatic Fleet|Pacific submarine force]].<ref name="tcmcurtis">''Private Screenings: Tony Curtis'' [[Turner Classic Movies]], January 19, 1999.</ref> Curtis served aboard a [[submarine tender]], the [[USS Proteus (AS-19)|USS ''Proteus'']]'','' until the end of the [[Second World War]]. On September 2, 1945, Curtis witnessed the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender|Japanese surrender]] in [[Tokyo Bay]] from his ship's signal bridge about a mile away.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tendertale.com/ttiii/ttiii1.html |title=TenderTale |publisher=TenderTale |accessdate=June 18, 2010}}</ref>

Following his [[Military discharge|discharge]] from the Navy, Curtis attended [[City College of New York]] on the [[G.I. Bill]]. He then studied acting at [[The New School]] in [[Greenwich Village]] under the influential German stage director [[Erwin Piscator]]. His contemporaries included [[Elaine Stritch]], [[Harry Belafonte]], [[Walter Matthau]], [[Bea Arthur|Beatrice Arthur]], and [[Rod Steiger]]. While still at college, Curtis was discovered by [[Joyce Selznick]], the notable [[talent agent]], [[casting director]], and niece of film producer [[David O. Selznick]].