- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJerome Lester Horwitz
- Nicknames
- Babe
- Jerry
- Height5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
- 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 (1947) 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.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Michael J. Bauman <mbauman@acsu.buffalo.edu>
- SpousesValerie Joan Grenache(July 31, 1947 - January 18, 1952) (his death, 1 child)Marion Elaine Marvin(October 17, 1945 - July 22, 1946) (divorced)Elaine Julia Ackerman(June 7, 1937 - July 11, 1940) (divorced, 1 child)Julia Rosenthal(August 5, 1930 - January 6, 1931) (annulled)
- ChildrenMarilyn Horwitz (Diamond)
- ParentsJenne Mary Goldsmith
- RelativesMoe Howard(Sibling)Shemp Howard(Sibling)Joan Howard(Niece or Nephew)Jeffrey Scott(Niece or Nephew)Michael Maurer(Niece or Nephew)Brad Server(Grandchild)
- Wore suits a size too small and a bowler hat in a majority of his Stooge shorts, most notably in Disorder in the Court (1936).
- Distinctive vocal expressions ("Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!", "Woo-woo-woo!", "Soitenly!" [certainly] and dog barking)
- Distinctive high-pitched voice
- After another 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.
- 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, which had a hair trigger. He accidentally shot his foot, and was so frightened of surgery, that he never got it fixed. Brother Moe Howard was the one who found him. To mask it on screen, he developed his famous exaggerated walk.
- Was an avid dog lover and often brought stray dogs home with him from traveling.
- 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, on May 6, 1946.
- His famous "woo-woo-woo" originated in The Three Stooges short Woman Haters (1934), their first of almost 200 for Columbia Pictures.
- Woman Haters (1934) - $1,000 (split with Moe Howard and Larry Fine)
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