How did each of the three stooges die?

Were the three stooges jewish

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from until , best remembered for their short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical , farce , and slapstick comedy. The act began in the early s as part of a vaudeville comedy act billed as "Ted Healy and His Stooges", consisting originally of Ted Healy and Moe Howard.

The four appeared in one feature film, Soup to Nuts , before Shemp left to pursue a solo career. He was replaced by Moe's younger brother, Jerome "Curly" Howard, in Two years later, after appearing in several movies, the trio left Healy and signed on to appear in their own short-subject comedies for Columbia Pictures, now billed as "The Three Stooges".

From to , Moe, Larry, and Curly produced over 90 short films for Columbia. Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in May Shemp returned, reconstituting the original lineup, until his death of a heart attack on November 22, , three years and ten months after Curly's death of a cerebral hemorrhage. Film actor Joe Palma stood in shot from behind to obscure his face to complete four Shemp-era shorts under contract.

The procedure of disguising one actor as another outside of stunt shots became known as the " fake Shemp ". Columbia contract player Joe Besser joined as the third Stooge for two years — , departing in to nurse his ill wife after Columbia terminated its shorts division. The studio then released all the shorts via Screen Gems , Columbia's television studio and distribution unit.

Screen Gems then syndicated the shorts to television, whereupon the Stooges became one of the most popular comedy acts of the early s. With intense television exposure in the United States, the act regained momentum throughout the s as popular kids' fare, until Larry's paralyzing stroke in the midst of filming a pilot for a Three Stooges TV series in January He died in January after a further series of strokes.

Unsuccessful attempts were made in and to revive the act with longtime supporting actor Emil Sitka in Fine's role, but they were each cut short—the first by a movie deal falling through and Moe's wife persuading him to retire, the second by Moe's death.