Acting
Mar 10, 1895
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Shemp Howard
Acting
Biography
Samuel (born Shmuel) Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known today for his role as the third stooge in the Three Stooges, a role he first portrayed at the beginning of the act in the early 1920s (1923–1932) while the act was still associated with Ted Healy and known as "Ted Healy and his Stooges", and again from 1946 until his death in 1955. Between his times with the Stooges, Shemp had a successful film career as a solo comedian. He was born in Manhattan, New York and raised in Brooklyn, the third-born of five Horwitz brothers, sons of Lithuanian Jewish parents. Moses - professionally known as Moe Howard - and Jerome - professionally known as Curly Howard - were his younger brothers. Throughout his career Shemp seldom stuck to the script and would liven up scenes with ad-libbed incidental dialogue or wisecracks. This became a trademark of his performances. His most notable characteristic as a Stooge was a high-pitched "bee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee!" sound, a sort of soft screech done by inhaling. It became his signature sound. He used his somewhat homely appearance for comic effect, often mugging grotesquely or allowing his hair to fall in disarray. Shemp was married to the former Gertrude Frank, whom he wed in September 1925. The couple had one child, Morton (1926–1972). On November 22, 1955, while returning home in a taxicab following attending a boxing match with friends, Shemp, age 60, died of a sudden massive heart attack. The Three Stooges have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.
Feature Films (198)
Egbert Sousé becomes an unexpected hero when a bank robber falls over a bench he's occupying. Now considered brave, Egbert is given a job as a bank guard. Soon, he is approached by charlatan J. Frothingham Waterbury about buying shares in a mining company. Egbert persuades teller Og Oggilby to lend him bank money, to be returned when the scheme pays off. Unfortunately, bank inspector Snoopington then makes a surprise appearance.
The Bank Dick
Dagwood Bumstead poses as his boss Mr. Dithers so that a big business deal can be consummated while Dithers avoids nearsighted process server Jim Gray. The upshot of all this is that Dagwood ends up in a lunatic asylum, forcing Blondie to come to the rescue.
Blondie Knows Best
When bookseller Buzz cons Diana into thinking that his friend Stanley knows all there is to know about Africa, they are abducted and ordered to lead Diana and her henchmen to an African tribe in search of a fortune in jewels.
Africa Screams
Popular crooner Russ Raymond abandons his career at its peak and joins the Navy using an alias, Tommy Halstead. However, Dorothy Roberts, a reporter, discovers his identity and follows him in the hopes of photographing him and revealing his identity to the world. Aboard the Alabama, Tommy meets up with Smoky and Pomeroy, who help hide him from Dorothy, who hatches numerous schemes in an attempt to photograph Tommy/Russ being a sailor.
In the Navy
Woody Harrelson hosts a special tribute to the Three Stooges in honor of their 75th Anniversary. In addition to classic Stooges routines, there are feature film clips, ultra-rare shorts, solo appearances, and TV performances, rare home movies, and interviews with Stooge family members and special guest stars. A must for any Stooge fan? Why soitenly!
Three Stooges 75th Anniversary Special
Television & Series (3)
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Celebrate a century of Stoogery with this long-anticipated collection that will smack you over the head with private home movies, family photographs, and classic clips of their Columbia shorts. From their Vaudeville days, through the Great Depression, two world wars, and decades of classic side-splitting shorts, this is the inside, intimate story of Hollywood’s most beloved group of knuckleheads. The complete OFFICIAL story of The Three Stooges. Packed with Columbia shorts and unseen family footage.
The Three Stooges: Hey Moe! Hey Dad!
This series features all of the great Three Stooges comedy shorts from the 1930s through the 1950s, each one fully remastered.
