HE WAS BORN JEROME LESTER HORWITZ IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.
UP UNTIL HE BECAME A WORLD-FAMOUS "STOOGE", HIS LIFE WAS FAIRLY UNEVENTFUL.
HE JUST KIND OF DRIFTED THROUGH LIFE UNTIL THE AGE OF 29, WHEN HE REPLACED HIS OLDER BROTHER "SHEMP", AS THE THIRD STOOGE IN THE THREE STOOGES SLAPSTICK COMEDY ACT.
INTERESTINGLY, MOE, CURLY'S OLDER BROTHER, ACTUALLY WROTE A LETTER TO SHEMP'S WIFE, BEGGING HER TO GET SHEMP NOT TO LEAVE THE ACT.
THE LETTER SAID THE STOOGES ACT WOULD DIE IF CURLY REPLACED SHEMP.
AS WE ALL KNOW, THE REVERSE ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
CURLY'S COMEDIC GENIUS AND BRILLIANCE SHONE THROUGH, CURLY QUICKLY BECAME THE STAR OF THE ACT AND THE MOSTY POPULAR STOOGE OF ALL-TIME.
JERRY SPENT THE EARLY YEARS OF HIS LIFE WITH THICK, BROWN CURLY HAIR AND A BIG MOUSTACHE.
WHEN HE JOINED THE ACT, THE FIRST STEP WAS SHAVING OFF THE FACIAL HAIR AND CUTTING OFF ALL HIS HAIR.
THE STORY GOES THAT JERRY ACTUALLY WAS CRYING WHEN THEY CUT HIS HAIR OFF.
"IF YOU WANT ME, CALL ME "CURLY," HE SAID.
CURLY REALLY WAS A LOT LIKE THE MAN-CHILD CHARACTER HE PLAYED IN THE STOOGES' SHORTS.
HE LOVED DOGS, BUYING A NEW ONE IN EVERY NEW CITY HE VISITED.
ONCE, WHEN HE AND MOE WERE WALKING DOWN THE STREET, CURLY'S DOG WAS HIT BY A CAR AND KILLED.
CURLY BECAME HYSTERICAL.
MOE, THINKING FAST, RAN TO HIS HOUSE AND GAVE CURLY HIS DOG.
THIS SETTLED CURLY DOWN AND HE WAS ALRIGHT.
CURLY AND HIS OLDER BROTHER, MOE, ALWAYS HAD A EXTREMELY CLOSE RELATIONSHIP.
CURLY HAD NO FINANCIAL SENSE AT ALL, AND MOE WOULD HELP HIM WITH HIS FINANCES AND DO HIS INCOME TAXES EVERY YEAR.
CURLY LIVED HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE IN SEVERE PAIN.
AT THE AGE OF 12, HE ACCIDENTALLY SHOT HIMSELF IN A HUNTING ACCIDENT.
THE BONE DID NOT SET PROPERLY, AND FOR THE REST OF HIS DAYS, CURLY HAD TROUBLE WITH THE LEG.
IF YOU WATCH A THREE STOOGES MOVIE AND SEE CURLY RUNNING, YOU WILL SEE A VERY NOTICEABLE LIMP.
THIS CHRONIC PAIN HAD ANOTHER BAD EFFECT: IT CAUSED CURLY TO DRINK.
IT IS DISPUTED WHETHER OR NOT CURLY WAS A FULL-FLEDGED ALCOHOLIC, BUT HE DID LIKE HIS ALCOHOL.
AND CURLY HAD ONE OTHER MAJOR WEAKNESS: HE LOVED WOMEN.
ANY GOOD-LOOKING WOMAN WITH A GOOD APPROACH WOULD LATCH ONTO CURLY AND HE WAS MORE THAN HAPPY TO SPEND HIS MONEY ON HER.
CURLY WAS ACTUALLY MARRIED FOUR TIMES.
HIS FIRST MARRIAGE WAS ANNULLED AND HE GOT TWO DIVORCES.
HE FINALLY FOUND HAPPINESS WITH HIS FOURTH AND FINAL WIFE, VALERIE, BUT MORE ON THAT LATER.
CURLY CONTINUED TO STAR WITH MOE AND LARRY FINE IN DOZENS OF THE CLASSIC "THREE STOOGES" SHORTS WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE ALL THROUGH THE '30'S AND INTO THE MID-40'S.
BUT IN THE EARLY 40'S, CURLY'S HEALTH RAPIDLY DETERIORATED.
CURLY LOVED TO GO OUT DANCING AND DRINKING AND MOST OF ALL, HE LOVED SMOKING CIGARS.
HE DEFINATELY DID NOT TAKR CARE OF HIMSELF, AND LIKE A CHILD, WAS ALWAYS JUST LOOKING FOR THE NEXT GOOD TIME.
IN THE MID-FORTIES, HE WAS ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL WITH VERY HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND HE HAD A SERIES OF STROKES.
AS ANY STOOGE FAN WELL KNOWS, IT IS SAD TO WATCH CURLY'S LAST FEW STOOGES SHORTS, BECAUSE HE LOOKS SO ANEMIC AND WASTED.
HIS TRADEMARK HIGH ENERGY AND VITALITY SEEMS ALMOST GONE.
CURLY HAD TROUBLE REMEMBERING ANY OF HIS LINES, AND THERE ARE MEMORIES OF BROTHER MOE, SLOWLY AND PATIENTLY, GOING OVER CURLY'S LINES WITH HIM, ONE BY ONE, BEFORE AN UPCOMING SCENE- AS AN ADULT MIGHT REHEARSE WITH A CHILD.
FINALLY, ON MAY 6, 1946, THE FINAL, SAD MOMENT OCCURED.
AS THE STOOGES WERE FILMING THEIR 97TH SHORT TOGETHER, "HALF WIT'S HOLIDAY", MOE WENT OVER TO GET CURLY FOR HIS NEXT SCENE.
HE FOUND CURLY SLUMPED IN A CHAIR WITH HIS HEAD ON HIS CHEST.
CURLY HAD HAD A MAJOR STROKE, AND THIS ONE WAS THE END OF HIS CAREER AS THE THIRD STOOGE.
CURLY WAS RUSHED TYO THE HOSPITAL, NOT KNOWING THAT HIS MOVIE CAREER WAS OVER.
CURLY'S OLDER BROTHER, SHEMP, REPLACED HIM IN THE ACT AND IN THE FILMS.
SHEMP, AND UNDISPUTEDLY GOOD COMEDIAN, JUST NEVER COULD REALLY REPLACE THE GREAT CURLY IN THE HEARTS OF MILLIONS OF THREE STOOGES FANS.
AS MOVIE CRITIC LEONARD MALTIN SO APTLY PUT IT: "SHEMP JUST COULDN'T REPLACE CURLY'S OTHER-WORLDLINESS".
AS CURLY WAS NOW "RETIRED" AND WITHOUT ANY INCOME, BROTHERS MOE AND SHEMP VOLUNTEERED TO GIVE A PERCENTAGE OF THEIR WEEKLY PAY TO THEIR KID BROTHER.
LARRY FINE, ALTHOUGH NOT RELATED, IMMEDIATELY OFFERED TO GIVE A PORTION OF HIS SALARY TO HIS OLD PARTNER, TOO.
CURLY LIVED OUT HIS FINAL DAYS WITH A NEW WIFE NAMED VALERIE.
HAPPILY, CURLY FINALLY FOUND THAT "GREAT LOVE" HE HAD LOOKED FOR ALL OF HIS LIFE.
VALERIE LOVED CURLY AND WOULD NURSE HIM IN HIS CHRONIC ILLNESS, 24 HOURS A DAY.
SHE WOULD EVEN BATHE POOR CURLY AS HIS BODY ATROPHIED.
CURLY'S HEALTH GREW WORSE AND WORSE UNTIL FINALLY HE WAS COMMITTED TO A SANITARIUM.
MOE WOULD OFTEN VIST AND REMEMBERS HOW ON HIS FINAL VISIT, CURLY WAS SO WEAK, HE COULD ONLY COMMUNICATE BY SQUEEZING MOE'S HAND.
THE REALITY OF THIS INCREDIBLY VITAL, LIFE-OF-THE-PARTY, COMEDIC GENIUS DYING IN SUCH A SLOW, CRUEL FASHION IS SADLY IRONIC.
CURLY HOWARD FINALLY PASSED AWAY ON JANUARY 18, 1952.
HE LEFT A LEGACY OF SCORES OF CLASSIC COMEDY SHORTS TO HIS MILLIONS OF FANS ALL OVER THE WORLD.
AND HAPPILY, CURLY HOWARD IS NOW RECOGNIZED BY COUNTLESS COMEDY CRITICS AS ONE OF THE FINEST COMEDIANS IN MOVIE HISTORY, RANKING ALONG WITH CHARLIE CHAPLIN, BUSTER KEATON, AND THE MARX BROTHERS.
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