Exit Stage Left
The day of his stroke in 1946, Curly was sitting in director Jules White’s chair and hadn’t responded to his cue to take the stage. Moe found his costar “with his head dropped to his lap” and unresponsive except for a few muffled cries. In 1948, he suffered a second major stroke that left him partially paralyzed and wheelchair bound until 1950. In 1951, a third stroke landed him in North Hollywood Hospital and Sanitarium where they later attempted to discharge him for his unruly behavior due his severe mental decline. He was then moved to Baldy View Sanitarium where he died at age 48, having “lived the shortest life of the Stooges.”