Moses Harry Horwitz, better known by his stage name Moe Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the leader and straight man of the Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades. That group initially started out as Ted Healy and His Stooges, an act that toured the vaudeville circuit. Moe's distinctive hairstyle came about when he was a boy and cut off his curls with a pair of scissors, producing an irregular shape approximating a bowl cut.
Howard in 1937
Larry Fine, Curly Howard, and Moe in 1937
Howard (left) with Shemp Howard and Larry Fine in Malice in the Palace in 1949
Crypt of Moe Howard, at Hillside Memorial Park
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total Stooges appeared over the act's run ; Moe Howard and Larry Fine were mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly 50-year run, while the "third stooge" was played in turn by Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser, and "Curly Joe" DeRita.
The Three Stooges in 1937: (clockwise from left) Larry Fine, Curly Howard, and Moe Howard
Lobby card with Healy, Joan Crawford and the Stooges in MGM's Dancing Lady (1933)
A thinner Curly (with a full head of hair and false handlebar mustache) as the cook in Malice in the Palace (1949) with Larry, Moe and Shemp: Curly's scene was deleted from the final release.
Moe and Larry with Shemp (center) from Malice in the Palace (1949)