Jerome "Curly" Howard, the rotund, bald Stooge with the high voice was the most popular member of the Three Stooges. His first stage experience was as a comedic conductor for the Orville Knapp Band in 1928. Curly joined the Three Stooges in 1932, replacing his brother Shemp Howard. He made more than 100 film appearances with the team before a massive stroke on the set of Half-Wits Holiday forced him to retire. He recuperated enough to appear in Hold That Lion (1947) and hoped to eventually return to the team. But another series of strokes deteriorated his health until he died at the age of 48.


Woman Haters (1934): $1,000 (split with Moe Howard and Larry Fine)

He was known as "Jerry" before joining The Three Stooges. Brother Moe Howard always called him "Babe". He was a member of The Three Stooges from 1930-1946. He took over from, and was eventually replaced by, his brother Shemp Howard. 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. Interred at Home of Peace Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the "Western Jewish Institute" section, row 5, grave 1. Brother of Shemp Howard. Has two older brothers, Jack Horwitz and Irving Horwitz. Son of Sol Horowitz. He shaved his head for his "Curly" character but did not like it because he felt it reduced his appeal to ladies. 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. Unlike his character, he was very shy and withdrawn when not on camera. 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. Never made a public or on-camera appearance out of character. 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. 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. 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 went to the doctor about an ear infection, and the doctor removed a cherry pip from his ear.