![]() While with the Stooges, he developed his famous exaggerated walk to conceal the limp on screen. Curly was so afraid of surgery that he never had the limp corrected. Moe rushed him to the hospital, saving his life, but the wound resulted in a noticeably thinner left leg and a slight limp. When Howard was 12, he accidentally shot himself in the left ankle while cleaning a rifle. He was also an accomplished ballroom dancer and singer and regularly turned up at the Triangle Ballroom in Brooklyn, occasionally bumping into actor George Raft. He did not graduate high school instead, he kept himself busy with odd jobs and constantly following his older brothers, whom he idolized. He was a mediocre student, but excelled as an athlete on the school basketball team. ![]() Ī quiet child, Howard rarely caused problems for his parents (something in which older brothers Moe and Shemp excelled). His full formal Hebrew name was "Yehudah Leib bar Shlomo Natan HaLevi". However, when his elder brother Shemp Howard married Gertrude Frank, who was also nicknamed "Babe", the brothers called him "Curly" to avoid confusion. The name "Babe" stuck with him all his life. Because he was the youngest, his brothers called him "Babe" to tease him. Of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, he was the youngest of the five sons of Jennie (Gorovitz) and Solomon Horwitz. He suffered serious health problems and several more strokes until his death in 1952 at age 48.Ĭurly Howard was born Jerome Lester Horwitz in the Bensonhurst section of the Brooklyn borough of New York City, on October 22, 1903. Howard had to leave the Three Stooges act in May 1946 when a massive stroke ended his show business career. Curly's unique version of "woo-woo-woo" was firmly established by the time of the Stooges' second Columbia film, Punch Drunks (1934). An untrained actor, Curly borrowed (and significantly exaggerated) the "woo woo" from "nervous" comedian Hugh Herbert. He was well known for his high-pitched voice and vocal expressions ("nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!", "woo-woo-woo!", "soitenly!", "I'm a victim of soikemstance", and barking like a dog), as well as his physical comedy (e.g., falling on the ground and pivoting on his shoulder as he "walked" in circular motion), improvisations, and athleticism. ![]() ![]() Curly Howard was generally considered the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges. In early shorts, he was billed as Curley. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and actor Larry Fine. Jerome Lester Horwitz ( Hebrew: יהודה לייב בר שלמה נתן הלוי, romanized: Yehudah Leib bar Shlomo Natan HaLevi Octo– January 18, 1952), better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and actor. ![]()
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