The British Olympian and pioneering gay athlete is to shine again in The Ice King, a documentary telling his story

John Curry’s graceful path to Winter Olympic triumph for Britain in 1976 – and to a place in the hearts of his fans – really began when his stern, factory-owner father, Joseph, denied him ballet lessons.

The seven-year-old was allowed to learn to skate at his local rink in Birmingham instead – after all, skating was a sport, not an art. There, with the support of his mother, Rita, a lifetime’s love of ice dancing took hold.

On the eve of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, James Erskine, the film-maker behind the 2013 Billie Jean King documentary The Battle of the Sexes, is to release The Ice King, a feature-length documentary telling Curry’s glorious and tragic story.

“Curry was unique,” Erskine says. “I’ve had long conversations about the nature of genius but, in the end, it comes down to the fact he just was the best ... He unified the music with the performance. I defy anyone to watch it and not think it is amazing.”

Curry’s Olympic success at the age of 26 changed ice skating for ever. Described as “the Nureyev of the rink”, he possessed an artistry that spoke to a worldwide audience of sports fans, rather like the elite skills of the Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut, or the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

“The idea for my film actually came from a review in the Guardian of Bill Jones’s biography of Curry, Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry,” says Erskine, 44. “It sounded an incredible story.

“I remembered a bit about his skating, but felt a film that was as much about art as sport would be fascinating. His life was such an Icarus story. And it is so easy for even great live performers to be forgotten.”

Erksine’s film contains rare and unseen footage of some of Curry’s remarkable ice routines. There are also archive interviews with those who knew the skater well, including the leading coach Christa Fassi, who helped train Curry once he left England for Colorado, and with those skaters he influenced, such as the former British champion Robin Cousins.

When Curry retired from international competition, he formed ice-dance companies in America that went on to break with convention by appearing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and the Royal Albert Hall in London. But the emotional power of Erskine’s documentary lies in Curry’s pioneering status as a gay athlete and, eventually, as one of the earliest celebrities to be diagnosed with HIV. On the night of the 1976 Olympic final in Innsbruck, an American interview unexpectedly revealed his homosexuality at a time when prejudice ran rife in sport.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Curry waves to the crowd after winning the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck. Photograph: Tony Duffy/Allsport

Curry went on to be voted 1976 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, yet he struggled to keep his personal life private until his death in 1994 at the age of 44. The Ice King features telling interviews with the skater’s early Swiss boyfriend and lifelong confidant, Heinz Wirz, although it makes no mention of Curry’s close relationship with the late actor Alan Bates, who was among the last to visit him as he lay dying in his mother’s home in Warwickshire.

“Curry’s legacy has been affected by the fact that so many skaters of his generation in New York were wiped out by Aids. Around half the male skaters in his company died,” Erskine said. “And skating has changed again now. It has not really taken Curry’s line. It is generally more physical and not as abstract as his work.”

When Erskine was filming The Battle of the Sexes, which last year was retold in a drama of the same name starring Steve Carell and Emma Stone as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, King told the director she had loved Curry’s skating and had seen him perform live.

Erskine hopes The Ice King will revive memories of a dancer from Birmingham who once shone as brightly as Rudolf Nureyev and who, he believes, should be just as revered.

The Ice King will be in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 23 February