Jerome Lester Horwitz was born on 22 October 1903, in Brooklyn, New York City USA, of Jewish and Lithuanian descent. Curly was a vaudevillian actor and comedian, best known for being part of the comedy team, the Three Stooges, noted for his vocal expressions and high-pitched voice. All of his efforts put his net worth to where it was prior to his passing.
How rich was Curly Howard? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that was at $10 million, earned through a successful career in comedy. He appeared in several films and was also known for his physical comedy. He stayed with the Three Stooges until 1946 when a stroke ended his career in show business. All of these achievements ensured the position of his wealth.
Curly Howard Net Worth $10 million
At a young age, Curly excelled in basketball and was part of his high school team. However, he did not matriculate, and would go on to work in various odd jobs. He also did singing and ballroom dancing during his youth. When he was 12 years old, he accidentally shot himself in the ankle while cleaning a rifle, and this caused a limp that he never sought to fix, and led to his famous exaggerated walk on screen. Interested in both comedy and music, he would join his brothers to perform as the stooges as a vaudeville act, but initially stayed back stage and didn’t participate in the actual performance.
Howard got his first on-stage break in 1928 as a comedy musical conductor. His brothers would start to become popular as the Stooges and began appearing in films. When Shemp left the stooges, Curly was asked to fill the role of the third stooge, and to change his look to fit a more comedic role. The Three Stooges would eventually sign with Columbia Pictures for two-reel comedy shorts, and to become the most popular short-subject attraction of the company, increasing their net worth significantly. Howard would become a hit with audiences and was well known for his numerous physical acts, with a lot of his popular scenes were unscripted thanks to his great improvisational techniques. They made many classics, including “We Want Our Mummy”, “Cactus Makes Perfect”, “An Ache in Every Stake”, and “A Plumbing We Will Go”. He developed a set of expressions that would become very popular, which included “Oh Look!”, “Huff Huff Huff!”, and “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk”.
During the mid-1940s, Curly’s energy started to lessen; it was noted that his actions seemed slower, and many believed that he suffered strokes around this period, and he was admitted to hospital several times, and was diagnosed with obesity as well as hypertension which forced him to rest, mainly because of a grueling schedule that took a toll on his body. His last performance would be in “Half-Wits Holiday” when he suffered a stroke during filming, so a lot of his scenes were replaced. He made a cameo in 1947’s “Hold That Lion!”, but due to difficulties recovering, he eventually decided to retire. He suffered another stroke in 1950 which led to partial paralysis. The following year, he suffered another stroke and eventually he passed away in 1952.
For his personal life, Curly married Julia Rosenthal in 1930 but it was annulled the following year. His next marriage was to Elaine Ackerman in 1937 and they had a child but divorced in 1940. His third marriage was to Marion Buxbaum in 1945 but their marriage only lasted for a year. His final marriage was to Valerie Newman in 1947, and it lasted until his death.
