Hollywood Memorial

The leader of the Three Stooges. At a very early age he was interested in acting, a talent that was helped along by his voracious memory and capacity for memorizing just about anything, including all of the many books he read and all of the plays he saw when he was skipping school. In 1909 he became an errand boy at the Vitagraph Studios, which were based in Brooklyn. In short time, his hard work and persistence paid off and he was soon acting in films produced by the studio, not running errands for its stars. Over the following decade he continued to perform in various modes of entertainment. In 1922 he and his older brother Shemp began working vaudeville with his childhood friend Ted Healy. Three years later, in 1925, Larry Fine joined their act. Their youngest brother, Jerome, who was later to be nicknamed Curly, later replaced Shemp and the classic line up of the Three Stooges was born. Over the next 24 years they starred in 190 two-reelers, occasionally also appearing in features. A consummate professional, he was working, appearing on television, and lecturing at college campuses right up till the last days of his life. Although the Moe Howard fans saw onscreen was very bossy and short-tempered, his real life off-screen persona was the complete opposite. He was the only Stooge who was good at managing money, and died very wealthy as a result. He also always insisted the others turn over part of their salaries to him, so they wouldn’t waste all of their money on luxuries, gambling, and women. He passed away a month before what would have been his fiftieth wedding anniversary, of lung cancer, at the age of seventy-eight. Interred in a crypt at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City.