Moe Howard

Moe Howard
The Three Stooges: Curly Howard, Moe Howard (center), and Larry Fine in 1936
Born	Moses Harry Horwitz (1897-06-19)June 19, 1897 Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	May 4, 1975(1975-05-04) (aged 77) Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Lung cancer
Resting place	Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Harry Howard
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	1909–1975
Spouse(s)	Helen Schonberger (m. 1925; his death 1975)
Children	Joan (born 1927) Paul (born 1935)
Relatives	Curly Howard (brother) Shemp Howard (brother)

Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the de facto leader of the Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades. That group originally 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 a ragged shape approximating a bowl cut.

Horwitz was born on June 19, 1897, in the Brooklyn, New York City neighborhood of Bensonhurst to Solomon Horwitz and Jennie Gorovitz, the fourth-born of five brothers of Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry. He was named Moe when still very young and later called himself Harry. His parents were not involved in show business, but Moe, older brother Shemp Howard, and younger brother Curly Howard all eventually became known as members of The Three Stooges. He loved to read as older brother Jack recalled: "I had many Horatio Alger books, and it was Moe's greatest pleasure to read them. They started his imaginative mind working and gave him ideas by the dozen. I think they were instrumental in putting thoughts into his head to become a person of good character and to become successful." This helped him in his acting career in later years, such as in memorizing his lines quickly and easily.

His "bowl cut" hairstyle became his trademark, but Moe's mother refused to cut his hair in childhood, letting it grow to shoulder length. Finally he could not take his classmates' years of teasing any longer, sneaked off to a shed in the back yard and cut his own hair. He was so afraid that his mother would be upset (she enjoyed curling his hair) that he hid under the house for several hours while causing a panic. He finally came out, and his mother was so glad to see him that she did not even mention the haircut.

Moe began to develop an interest in acting to the point where his schoolwork suffered. He began playing hookey from school and going to the theater. He said, "I used to stand outside the theater knowing the truant officer was looking for me. I would stand there 'til someone came along, and then ask them to buy my ticket. It was necessary for an adult to accompany a juvenile into the theater. When I succeeded I'd give him my ten cents—that's all it cost—and I'd go up to the top of the balcony where I'd put my chin on the rail and watch, spellbound, from the first act to the last. I would usually select the actor I liked the most and follow his performance throughout the play."