Description:
Ted Healy was born Clarence Lee Nash in Kaufman, Texas on October 1st, 1896. Around 1919, after years of flirtation with show business, Lee Nash rejected a career as a businessman and entered vaudeville as Ted Healy. In 1922, his solo act was expanded to include his wife, Elizabeth Braun. The act found almost immediate fame as "Ted and Betty Healy: The Flapper and the Philosopher." Moe and Shemp Howard, the first of Healy's famous stooges were incorporated into the act by 1924, followed shortly by a third stooge, Kenneth Lackey (replaced by Larry Fine in 1925). In 1926, Ted and Betty Healy were signed by Hal Roach to p
Ted Healy was born Clarence Lee Nash in Kaufman, Texas on October 1st, 1896. Around 1919, after years of flirtation with show business, Lee Nash rejected a career as a businessman and entered vaudeville as Ted Healy. In 1922, his solo act was expanded to include his wife, Elizabeth Braun. The act found almost immediate fame as "Ted and Betty Healy: The Flapper and the Philosopher." Moe and Shemp Howard, the first of Healy's famous stooges were incorporated into the act by 1924, followed shortly by a third stooge, Kenneth Lackey (replaced by Larry Fine in 1925). In 1926, Ted and Betty Healy were signed by Hal Roach to produce a series of short comedies, only one of which was made, sans Betty, entitled Wise Guys Prefer Brunettes (1926), directed by Stan Laurel. In various combinations, Ted, Betty, and the stooges appeared on Broadway and continued to tour vaudeville until 1928, when Betty departed the act (the Healys were officially divorced in 1932). Ted and his stooges made their feature film debut in 1930's Soup to Nuts (1930), after which Shemp Howard departed and was replaced by his younger brother Jerome. In 1933, Ted Healy and his stooges were signed by MGM, and were featured in a wide variety of shorts and features, with Healy more and more frequently appearing alone in character roles. The act finally dissolved in 1934 when Howard, Fine, and Howard accepted an offer from Columbia Pictures and became the famous Three Stooges. At MGM, Healy was featured with ever-increasing prominence in both dramas (San Francisco (1936), Death on the Diamond (1934)) and light comedies (It's in the Air (1935)), and was also teamed with Nat Pendleton. In late 1936, Ted Healy signed a lucrative contract with Warner Brothers and received co-starring roles (with Dick Powell) in two major Busby Berkeley musicals, Varsity Show (1937) and _Hollywood Hotel (1938)_. Ted Healy married UCLA co-ed Betty Hickman in 1936 and on December 17, 1937, their son, John Jacob Nash, was born. Healy reportedly left the hospital to celebrate, first at the Brown Derby, then at the Trocadero. Intoxicated, Ted became involved in a fight with one or more people that left him seriously injured and nearly unconscious. He was found by friends, delirious and bleeding on the sidewalk in front of the Trocadero, and was taken to a doctor. Healy never regained full consciousness. He died at 11:30 AM, Tuesday, December 21, 1937 at his home in Beverly Hills. The cause of death was determined, in time, as kidney failure due to both the beating and years of alcohol abuse. He was survived by his wife, his child and his sister, Marcia Healy
Trivia:
Befriended and worked with Moe Howard years before their Stooge act in a water comedy show that featured swimmer Annette Kellerman in 1912. The act dissolved after a tragic accident in which a young female swimmer misjudged a dive and broke her neck.
When Shemp Howard left the act, Moe wanted his little brother Jerome to take his place. However, Ted disliked Jerome and wouldn't hire him. Some sorces say Moe threatend to quit unless he hired Jerome. Whetever the reason, Ted finally agreed to hire him on the condition that he shaved his head, and went by the name of Curly. This was done, hopefully, to change Jerome's mind, if not to humiliate him. But it's what Ted did that made Curly the most beloved stooge!
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 210-211. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
Interred at Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA - Plot: Section F, Lot 1693, Grave 14
Is portrayed by Marton Csokas in The Three Stooges (2000) (TV)
In the early 1930s, Healey was the highest paid comic in the country, making $30,000 per week. Despite the small fortune he was paid, he paid his three "Stooges" (Sam and Moses "Harry" Horwitz, a.k.a. Shemp and Moe Howard, Larry Fine and, after Shemp dropped out, Jerome "Curly Howard" Horwitz $100 per week, split three ways.
Was Irish-American.
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