I just watched Some Like It Hot the other night - I don't watch much tv and have a large DVD collection and it gets me by. Great performance, you are right.
TC is a good guy, I think, and has gotten a bad rap from time to time over the decades.
Actors didn't manage their careers as carefully as today -- nor did they get the big pay checks that could see them through until something good came along. So, you get talented guys like Curtis -- adrift after the studio system collapsed -- making complete crap.
Thinking about him just now, I gotta confess, I'm a big fan.