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The Three Stooges were always a trio, but six performers filled those three places over the act’s history: Moe Howard and Larry Fine, alongside Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, or Joe DeRita, known as Curly Joe. The key change was in the third position; Curly Howard and Curly Joe were different people.
Who were the six Three Stooges?
Moe Howard and Larry Fine were central to the group’s principal screen lineups. The third spot changed as members left, became ill, or died. The six performers are:
- Moe Howard (Moses Horowitz), a founding Howard brother in the act. The rights-holder’s history says Moe and his brother Samuel began in vaudeville road shows before Larry joined.
- Larry Fine (Louis Feinberg), who joined the Howard brothers’ act and remained in the principal screen lineups.
- Curly Howard (Jerome Lester Horwitz), Moe’s younger brother. He joined when Shemp left to pursue work on his own.
- Shemp Howard (Samuel Horwitz), Moe’s brother. He worked in the early act, later returned when Curly became ill, and remained until his death in 1955.
- Joe Besser, who took the third position after Shemp’s death.
- Joe DeRita (Joseph Wardell), billed as Curly Joe, who followed Besser for the group’s later feature-film period.
The official biographies give the birth names listed above for Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, and DeRita. The accessible official biography identifies Joe Besser but does not provide his birth name in the available text.
How did the lineup change?
The sequence is easiest to follow through the Columbia shorts and the later feature films. Shemp appears twice in the broader history: before Curly’s rise and again after Curly left.
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| Lineup | Transition and format | Representative credits |
|---|---|---|
| Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard | Curly replaced Shemp in the early 1930s. This was the highly visible early Columbia short-film trio. | Dizzy Doctors (1937); You Nazty Spy! (1940); A Plumbing We Will Go (1940) |
| Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard | Shemp returned after Curly became ill. He appeared in the subsequent shorts until his death in 1955. | Fight Night (1947) is an early short in this period. |
| Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe Besser | Besser took the third position after Shemp’s death and appeared in later Columbia shorts. | Hoofs and Goofs (1957) |
| Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita (Curly Joe) | DeRita followed Besser for the feature-film phase. | Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959); Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961); The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962); The Outlaws Is Coming! (1965) |
Why did The Three Stooges change members?
The documented transitions reflect different circumstances, not a change from a trio to a larger ensemble. Curly joined when Shemp left to work on his own; Shemp later returned when Curly became ill. After Shemp died in 1955, Joe Besser took his place. Besser was later followed by Joe DeRita as the act moved into feature films. The available sources do not establish a single reason for every individual departure, so it is better not to reduce the history to one explanation.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to identify which Stooges are in a film
Check the film’s cast or the official filmography rather than assuming the name refers to the same three men in every credit. The filmography lists the different Moe-and-Larry lineups across the short-subject and feature eras, making it a practical reference when identifying a particular title.
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The Hollywood Walk of Fame describes the group’s hallmark as “physical farce and extreme slapstick.” C3 Entertainment, the rights-holder, says the Stooges starred in “over 220 films” during the next 30 years; that is the company’s broad historical wording, not an independently audited shorts-only count. C3 also characterizes the act this way: “But the comedy never changed, as The Three Stooges always stayed true to The Three Stooges slapstick style of comedy which made them famous.” That is the rights-holder’s view of the group’s continuity, rather than a neutral critical consensus.
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