Curly Howard

Jerome Lester Horwitz was born on October 22, 1903, in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five sons in a Lithuanian-Jewish family. Joining his brothers Moe and Shemp on the vaudeville circuit, he adopted the stage name 'Curly' in 1932 after shaving his thick, wavy brown hair to join Moe Howard and Larry Fine in Ted Healy's slapstick comedy act.

Signing with Columbia Pictures in 1934, The Three Stooges launched a golden era of two-reel comedy shorts that became fixtures of American cinema and television for generations. Curly was the undeniable centerpiece of the trio: an innocent, childlike, hyperactive force of nature who defied physical gravity with his rubber-legged shuffles, floor-spinning maneuvers, and surreal canine barks. His signature vocalizations—'Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!', 'Woo-woo-woo-woo!', 'Soitenly!', and 'I’m a victim of soicusmtance!'—became embedded in the global comedy lexicon.

Over thirteen relentless years, Curly starred in 97 classic Columbia shorts, including the Oscar-nominated 'Men in Black' (1934) and the razor-sharp anti-fascist satire 'You Nazty Spy!' (1940)—the first American film to satirize Adolf Hitler. Following debilitating strokes induced by relentless performance schedules and hypertension, Curly retired from screen acting in 1947 and passed away on January 18, 1952. In 1983, The Three Stooges were honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.