34 Facts About Shemp Howard

Shemp Howard is best known as the third Stooge in The Three Stooges, a role he played when the act began in the early 1920s, while it was still associated with Ted Healy and known as "Ted Healy and his Stooges"; and again from 1946 until his death in 1955.

Shemp Howard reluctantly returned to the Stooges as a favor to his brother Moe and friend Larry Fine to replace his brother Curly as the third Stooge after Curly's illness.

Shemp Howard was the third of five Horwitz brothers born to Lithuanian Jewish parents Solomon Gorwitz and Jennie Gorwitz.

Shemp Howard had two older brothers, Isadore "Irving" and Benjamin Jacob "Jack".

Shemp Howard, who was named Samuel after his mother's grandfather, Shmuel, was known as Sam.

Shemp's brother Moe Howard started in show business as a youngster, on stage and in films.

Quick-witted Shemp Howard yelled right back, and walked up onto the stage.

The Shemp Howard brothers were the original Stooges; Larry Fine joined them in 1928.

Shemp Howard played a bumbling fireman in the Stooges' first film, Soup to Nuts, the only film where he played one of Healy's gang.

Moe, Larry and Shemp Howard continued until July 1932, when Ted Healy approached them to team up again for the Shuberts' Broadway revue "Passing Show of 1932", and they accepted the offer.

Shemp Howard regrouped to form his own act and played on the road for a few months.

Shemp Howard landed at Brooklyn's Vitaphone Studios for movie appearance opportunities in May 1933.

When he split from Healy, Shemp was immediately replaced by his and Moe's younger brother Jerry Howard, known as Curly.

Shemp Howard was featured with studio comics Jack Haley, Ben Blue and Gus Shy; then co-starred with Harry Gribbon, Daphne Pollard, and Johnnie Berkes, and finally starred in his own two-reel comedies.

Shemp Howard preferred to improvise dialogue and jokes, which became his trademark.

Shemp Howard was cast as Knobby Walsh, and although only a supporting character, he became the comic focus of the series, with Johnnie Berkes and Lee Weber as his foils.

Shemp Howard unsuccessfully attempted to lead his own group of "stooges" in the Van Beuren musical comedy short The Knife of the Party.

Shemp Howard worked exclusively at Universal from August 1940 to August 1943, performing with such comics as W C Fields, and with comedy duos Abbott and Costello and Olsen and Johnson.

Shemp Howard lent comic relief to Charlie Chan and The Thin Man murder mysteries.

Shemp Howard played a few serious parts, such as his supporting role in Pittsburgh, starring Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne.

From 1938 to 1940 and again from 1944 to 1946, Shemp Howard appeared in Columbia's two-reel comedies, co-starring with Columbia regulars Andy Clyde, The Glove Slingers, El Brendel, and Tom Kennedy.

Shemp Howard was given his own starring series in 1944.

Shemp Howard was working for Columbia in this capacity when his brother Curly was felled by a debilitating stroke on May 6,1946.

Curly had already suffered a series of strokes prior to the filming of If a Body Meets a Body, and in January 1945 Shemp Howard filled in for Curly at a week-long appearance at the St Charles Theatre in New Orleans.

Shemp Howard agreed to fill in for Curly in Columbia's popular Stooge shorts, knowing that if he refused, Moe and Larry would be out of work.

Shemp Howard intended to stay only until Curly recovered, which never happened as Curly's health continued to worsen.

Shemp Howard's characterization was more relaxed as opposed to Curly's energetic persona.

Shemp Howard appeared with Moe and Larry in 77 short subjects, four of which were produced posthumously using stock footage.

Shemp Howard suffered a mild stroke in November 1952, but recovered within weeks.

Shemp Howard had several phobias, including of airplanes, automobiles, dogs, and water.

On November 22,1955, Shemp Howard went out with associates Al Winston and Bobby Silverman to a boxing match, one of Shemp Howard's favorite pastimes, at the Hollywood Legion Stadium.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's death certificate states that Shemp Howard died on Tuesday, November 22,1955, at 11:35 [PM] PST.

Shemp Howard is interred in a crypt in the Indoor Mausoleum at the Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles.

Shemp Howard came to be known by Stooge fans as the "Fake Shemp", a term which director Sam Raimi later coined in reference to any body double replacing an actor.