Description:
Curly Howard's real name was Jerome Lester Horwitz. He was born to Jenny and Solomon Horwitz on October 22, 1903 in Bath Beach, a summer resort in a section of Brooklyn. He was the fifth and youngest of the five Horwitz brothers. Curly's interest in show business grew as he watched his brothers, Shemp and Moe perform as stooges in Ted Healy's act. After Shemp left the Healy act, Moe suggested to Healy that his kid brother Jerome was available and would make an excellent replacement for Shemp.
Curly at the time was known as "Babe." When Babe showed up to talk to Healy to join the act he had long wavy brown hair and a
Curly Howard's real name was Jerome Lester Horwitz. He was born to Jenny and Solomon Horwitz on October 22, 1903 in Bath Beach, a summer resort in a section of Brooklyn. He was the fifth and youngest of the five Horwitz brothers. Curly's interest in show business grew as he watched his brothers, Shemp and Moe perform as stooges in Ted Healy's act. After Shemp left the Healy act, Moe suggested to Healy that his kid brother Jerome was available and would make an excellent replacement for Shemp.
Curly at the time was known as "Babe." When Babe showed up to talk to Healy to join the act he had long wavy brown hair and a mustache. In order to join the act Babe agreed to shave off his mustache and shave his head. Now referred to as Curly, he joined the team and played with the Stooges in vaudeville acts and comedy shorts for MGM. Later, in 1934, Curly along with Larry and Moe performed in many of the shorts that were produced for Columbia Pictures.
After Curly's first marriage was annulled, he married three more times. On June 7, 1937 he married Elaine Ackerman. In 1938, Elaine gave birth to Curly's first child, a daughter, Marilyn. Elaine and Curly divorced on July 11, 1940 after only 3 years of marriage. On October 17, 1945, Curly married Marion Buxbaum. After a miserable three months of arguments and accusations, Marion and Curly separated on January 14, 1946, and Curly sued for divorce. This divorce was quite scandalous and notices were carried in all the local papers.
It was after his separation from Marion that Curly's health started its rapid decline. On May 6, 1946, he suffered a stroke during the filming of his 97th Three Stooges comedy, "Half-Wits' Holiday" (1947). A year later Curly met Valerie Newman, whom he married on July 31, 1947. Valerie was Curly's fourth wife, and she nursed him through those last, awful years. Valerie gave birth to a daughter, Janie.
Finally, in 1949, Curly's health took a severe turn for the worse when he suffered his second in a series of strokes and was rushed to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood. Curly died on January 18, 1952. He was 48 years old.
Trade Mark:
Wore a Bowler Derby hat in a majority of his Stooge shorts, most notably in Disorder in the Court (1936).
Baby voice
Bald head
Suits that were a size too small
Trivia:
He was known as "Jerry" before joining The Three Stooges. Brother Moe Howard always called him "Babe".
Fourth member of The Three Stooges team, of which, over time, there were six altogether. (See Ted Healy).
He was a member of The Three Stooges from 1930-1946. He took over from, and was eventually replaced by, his brother Shemp Howard.
His famous "woo-woo-woo" originated in The Three Stooges short Woman Haters (1934), their first of almost 200 for Columbia Pictures.
The final pie-fight scene of Half-Wits Holiday (1947) did not include Curly because he had suffered a stroke the day the scene was filmed.
He filmed a scene for The Three Stooges short Malice in the Palace (1949) as a chef, but it was left on the cutting room floor (although there are publicity photographs of the scene).
Interred at Home of Peace Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the "Western Jewish Institute" section, row 5, grave 1.
Brother of Moe Howard.
Brother of Shemp Howard.
According to one of his ex-wives, Curly was extremely musical. He could take almost anything lying around around and make music with it. She said when they went to night clubs, he would take two spoons and play along with the club's band, or tear the table cloth to music. Of course, they would find the cost of the table cloth added to the bill!.
Has two older brothers, Jack Horwitz and Irving Horwitz.
Shared the same nickname, "Babe," as another contemporary rotund slapstick comic, Oliver Hardy, although it was a coincidence. Curly was the youngest of the three Howard brothers--the others being Moe and Shemp--and his mother always called him "My Baby." His brothers shortened it to "Babe" and used it to constantly tease him. The nickname stuck to him all his life.
Son of Sol Horowitz.
The original use of "woo-woo-woo" was an ad lib. It was actually written into the later scripts.
He shaved his head for his "Curly" character but did not like it because he felt it reduced his appeal to ladies.
Some of the animators at Disney had seen him as "Curly" in The Three Stooges shorts. His movements inspired some of the choreography in the mushroom dance in Fantasia (1940).
During a visit to The Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara in January, 1945, he was diagnosed as having extreme hypertension, a retinal hemorrhage and obesity thus explaining his ragged appearance in all of the shorts released in 1946-47, his last year with the group.
The identity of Curly's first wife remains a mystery to this day. The marriage was annulled after five months because his mother didn't like the idea of him marrying in only his late teens.
Unlike his character, he was very shy and withdrawn when not on camera.
Was an avid dog lover and often brought stray dogs home with him from traveling.
With a full head of hair, appears for the first time with both Moe and Shemp in The Three Stooges short Hold That Lion! (1947); it was also his last Stooge appearance.
The accident he had as a child, which gave him his limp, was a gun accident. One morning he was playing in the backyard, with his pistol, and it had a hair trigger. He accidentally shot his foot and was so frightened of surgery that he never got it fixed. Moe was the one who found him. To mask it on screen, he developed his famous exaggerated walk.
Never made a public or on-camera appearance out of character.
Is portrayed by Michael Chiklis in The Three Stooges (2000) (TV).
In 1984 he was immortalized in the song "The Curly Shuffle" by the comedy group "Jump in the Saddle", which was accompanied by a music video containing clips from several of The Three Stooges films featuring him.
Despite his shy nature, the success and celebrity of The Three Stooges triggered his lifelong indulgences in drinking too much, overeating and womanizing. He was also a compulsive spender. Brother Moe Howard, the business manager of the group, tried to curtail Curly's spending habits but was unable to. Despite several hospitalizations for health problems due to his lifestyle, Curly stubbornly refused to change it.
Ted Healy, who originated the idea of The Three Stooges' brutal style of comedy, wasn't originally interested in hiring Curly to replace Shemp Howard, the original stooge, after Shemp left the group. Curly had wavy chestnut-brown hair and a waxed mustache. When he went out and completely shaved his head and (eventually) his mustache, Healy hired him on the spot.
Got his first job when he was 25 years old, performing as a burlesque conductor for the Orville Knapp Orchestra.
During the Long Beach earthquake of 1933, he thought the house shaking was the result of a trick Ted Healy was playing on them, and was found by his brother Moe Howard pounding on Healy's door yelling at him to stop whatever it was he was doing.
Once while in Atlantic City, NJ, he was cracked over the head with a cane by a young boy who thought Curly's head was as tough as it appeared to be in The Three Stooges shorts.
Once went to the doctor about an ear infection, and the doctor removed a cherry pip from his ear.
After his stroke in 1947, he was left half paralyzed and unable to work, with expensive medical bills. Brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and fellow Stooge Larry Fine, set aside percentages of their weekly paychecks to help him.
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Tags: American (3), Three Stooges (2), Died 1952 (2), Born 1903 (2), Stooge (1), Butt Monkey (1), Part Of Comedy Team (1), Died Aged 48 (1), Died Aged 49 (1), Lead Actor (1), Supporting Actor (1), Funny (1), Stroke (1), Deceased (1), Actor (1), 1940s (1), 1930s (1)
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