Brief Biographies of the Stooges

 Shemp Howard- Shemp Howard was the oldest
of the stooges, born on March 17, 1895, and he died on 
November 23, 1955. Before joining the stooges on 1947,
Shemp persued a solo career in Hollywood making his 
own shorts. But when his brother Curly had to leave the 
stooges, Moe and Larry wanted to have Shemp. At first 
the producer of the stooges disagreed with Moe and Larry 
because Shemp looked too much like Moe. But then Moe 
and Larry pointed out that Shemp had experience in film
making, so Shemp joined the stooges and Moe, Larry,
and Shemp made 77 shorts together. Unfortuneately, 
Shemp died suddenly in a taxi from a heart attack,
leaving Moe and Larry once again to decide what to do.

Moe Howard- Moe Howard the bossiest of
the stooges was born on June 19, 1897, and died on
May 4, 1975. Moe Howard also made his own shorts
for various companies such as MGM and Columbia, 
both before and after he was with the three stooges.
In his life as a comedian, Moe made hundreds of 
movies, shorts and full length features. Moe actually
grew up with long, curly hair but then he changed it,
his friends liked it, and that's how he got his famous
stooges cut. Moe died on May 4, 1975 of lung 
cancer, marking the death of one of the most famous 
comedians of all time.

Larry Fine- Larry Fine was the middle of
the stooges age wise. He was born on October 5,
1902 and died on January 24, 1975. Larry was the 
mildest of the stooges, being bossy in only a few of
the stooges' episodes. Larry, like Moe, also grew 
up with different hair then in the films. His hair story
is as follows: After a swim, Larry's hair was all
messed up and it dried like that. His friends liked
it and that's how he became the "porcupine." Larry
was a musician before he joined the stooges, so 
that's why in almost every film if there was an 
instument that had to be played, Larry woul play it.
In fact in films such as "Punch Drunks" where Larry 
played he violin in the film, he actually did play it instead
of it being a recorded. Larry died only five months 
before Moe on January 24, 1975.

Curly Howard- Curly Howard was by far 
the most loved of the stooges. He was born on 
October 22, 1903 and died on January 18, 1952.
Curly was the stooge that made the most shorts 
with Moe and Larry-97. He and Moe and Larry
had a 13 year career together before a stroke
during the filming of "Half-Wits Holiday" forced 
him to leave the stooges. Curly had many "trademarks", 
such ad his famous shuffle, and his "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk". 
Curly lasted five years after leaving the stooges before
he died because of a massive stroke on January 18,
1952. Curly did make a cameo appearence in the film
"Hold that Lion". He was the passenger with the derby 
and the clothespin on.

Joe Besser- Joe Besser was born on
August 12, 1907 and died on March 1, 1988.
Joe was accepted as a stooge in part because of his
kiddish behavior. He and Moe and Larry only made 
16 shorts together in a two year span. The break with
columbia happened on December 20, 1957. This
ended the stooges' 24-year Columbia short-subject
career, which is the longest contract for Columbia by
any comedy team. 

Joe DeRita- Joe DeRita, Curly-Joe, was 
born on July 12, 1909 and died in 1993 
(exact date is unknown). After Joe Besser left the 
stooges, Moe and Larry seriously thought of retiring, 
but they ended up making films with Curly- Joe for 
14 years.All of the films were full length features. The
last Three Stooges Movie Ever Made was "Kooks
Tour", which was never released, with Curly-Joe.
Curly-Joe got his name because he looked like
Curly and Joe. He retired in 1971.