Wentworth Miller

Miller further increased his profile in 2005 when he starred in singer Mariah Carey's music videos, "It's Like That" and "We Belong Together." He currently has a starring role as Michael Scofield in the successful Fox Network television drama Prison Break, for which he received a 2005 Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series.^[2]. [3] Disorder in the Court (1936)
[4] Malice in the Palace (1949)
[5]Sing A Song of Six Pants (1947)
[6]Brideless Groom (1947)
. After appearing in a few minor television roles, Miller moved on to co-star in the film The Human Stain (2003), playing the younger version of a racially confused character played by Anthony Hopkins. There are four Three Stooges shorts that are in the public domain, and which can be downloaded at no charge from the Prelinger Archive:
. Miller's first starring role was as the sensitive and introverted David in ABC's mini-series Dinotopia. He later reprograms three of the Nova Robots into a breed of the Three Stooges, almost in their likeness. Miller ended up spending years doing behind-the-scenes work to support himself before devoting himself seriously to auditioning for roles. In John Badham's movie Short Circuit, Johnny 5, while watching T.V., sees the original Three Stooges in their first short for Columbia Pictures, Women Haters, made in 1934 at Stephanie's (Ally Sheedy) house.

Subsequently, Miller headed to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Due to this guest appearance there was a short-lived animated series, also produced by Hanna-Barbera, entitled The Three Robonic Stooges featuring Moe, Larry, and Curly as bionic cartoon superheroes with extendable limbs, similar to the later Inspector Gadget. Miller graduated from Princeton University with a degree of English, and traveled the world performing with the school's famed a capella group, The Princeton Tigertones. An episode of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies aired in the early 1970's featuring animated Stooges as guest-stars. Miller is multiracial, being of African American, Jamaican, English, and German Jewish descent on his father's side, and of Russian, French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese descent on his mother's.^[1] Miller was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom where his father, a Rhodes Scholar, was studying, but he was raised in Brooklyn. This series featured a mix of thirty-nine live action segments which were used as wrap-arounds to 156 animated Stooges shorts. . In addition to the unsuccessful television series pilots, Jerks of All Trades (1949) and Kook's Tour (1970), the Stooges appeared in a short-lived television show called The New Three Stooges which ran from 1965 to 1966.

Wentworth Earl Miller III (born on June 2, 1972) is an English-born American actor. The Three Stooges also made appearances in many feature length movies in the course of their careers:. The most commonly used themes were:. Several instrumental tunes were played over the opening credits at different times in the production of their short features. A blow to a kettle drum accompanied blows to the stomach, and for pokes to the eye, a plucked violin string made the sound, or sometimes a high pitched piano sound.

Typically, the sound of a hammer striking an anvil or a block of wood was used, suggesting the characters were "hard-headed" in more ways than one. A good example would be Moe whacking one of his fellow Stooges on the head with a hammer. The use of clever sound effects was important to the overall effect of the action. See [2] for more examples.

And in some episodes, there were sight gags involved Curly, who supposedly has a very hard head. His voice was later dubbed in. This was done with an air hose off-camera (usually below as it takes an extreme close-up of him) blowing his hair upward as he yells. In some brief scenes for certain episodes, Moe would be seen with his hair standing straight in fright as he yelled in terror.

One Stooge, typically Moe, grasps another Stooge's nose then vertically strikes the grasping fist, making the sound of a honking horn-like device. The triple slap: a straight man slaps the faces of all three Stooges in one energetic sweep. In a variant of this maneuver, one Stooge strikes his own outstretched fist with his other fist; usually, it is either Curly or Larry who is the one that does this, except after being struck, the clever trick backfires as the hand revolves downward, back and onto Curly's or Larry's own head. After being struck, the hand revolves downward, back and onto another Stooge's head.

One Stooge, usually Moe, strikes his own outstretched fist with his other fist. in 3-D, giving you a Stooge's POV of Moe dishing out the two-finger eyepoke!. There were many variants to this classic move, one over the phone, and it being done in two episodes.. or:.

Here is an example:. The first Stooge then uses the index finger of each hand to jab both eyes at once. After a while, the other Stooge catches on and holds his palm perpendicular to the edge of his nose to block this. One Stooge pokes the other in the eyes with the first and second fingers of one hand.

Examples of archetypical Stooge slapstick:. Here are some examples:. Although The Three Stooges are best known for their physical comedy, the group's dialogue is also highly quotable, with many of their lines (or signature nonverbal vocalizations) having become popular catchphrases. Emil Sitka
Born: December 22, 1914
Died: January 16, 1998
Stooge years: c.1971-1975
.

Curly-Joe DeRita
Real Name: Joseph Wardell
Born: July 12, 1909
Died: July 3, 1993
Stooge years: 1959-1975
. Joe Besser
Born: August 12, 1907
Died: March 1, 1988
Stooge years: 1957-1959
. Shemp Howard
Real Name: Samuel Horwitz
Born: March 4, 1895
Died: November 22, 1955
Stooge years: 1922-1925, 1929-1932, 1947-1955
. Curly Howard
Real Name: Jerome Lester Horwitz
Born: October 22, 1903
Died: January 18, 1952
Stooge years: 1934-1946
.

Larry Fine
Real Name: Louis Feinberg
Born: October 5, 1902
Died: January 24, 1975
Stooge years: 1925-1926, 1929-1971
. Moe Howard
Real Name: Harry Moses Horwitz
Born: June 19, 1897
Died: May 4, 1975
Stooge years: 1922, 1926, 1929-1975
. This movie was based on Michael Fleming's authorized biography on the Stooges, The Three Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons. In Spring of 2000, a TV-movie about the life and careers of the Stooges was produced for and broadcast on ABC.

Comedy III Productions, Inc., formed by Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe DeRita in 1959, is today the owner of all of the Three Stooges' trademarks and merchandising (the company is currently operated by DeRita's two stepsons). Throughout their career, Moe was the heart and soul of the troupe, acting as both their main creative force and business manager. Curly-Joe often stated that his time with the Three Stooges were the 'best years of his life.'. Curly-Joe passed away in 1993, making him the last Stooge to die.

It's interesting to note that in 1975, we lost both Larry and Moe, but also Moe's wife of 50 years, Helen. However, Moe passed on a few months later, and it was inconceivable that the Three Stooges continue without a Howard, although Curly-Joe did do some live performances with a new group of Stooges in the early 1970s. Several movie ideas were considered, including one called Blazing Stewardesses according to Leonard Maltin, who also uncovered a pre-production photo (the film was ultimately made with the last surviving Ritz Brothers). After his death, it was decided that long-time Stooge supporting actor Emil Sitka would replace him, and be dubbed "The Middle Stooge".

In January 1975, Larry Fine was gone. The following month, he suffered a more serious stroke, which Larry did not survive. Larry suffered another stroke in December 1974. A 50-minute version of Kook's Tour was edited together from usable material and initially only made available for the home movie market (years before the popularity of home video); it has subsequently been released to DVD, though unrestored.

During production of the pilot, Larry suffered a paralyzing stroke, ending his acting career, as well as future plans for the TV series. In 1969, the Three Stooges filmed a pilot episode for a new TV series entitled Kook's Tour which would have been a combination travelogue and sitcom that would have seen the "retired" Stooges travelling around the world, with the episodes filmed on location. The trio also filmed 39 short comedy skits that were broadcast as introductions and closings for a 1965 animated television series based upon the comedy team. This version of the Three Stooges went on to make a series of moderately popular full-length films during the late 1950s and through the 1960s.

Moe quickly signed Joe DeRita as his replacement; DeRita shaved his head and became "Curly-Joe" because of his resemblance to the original Curly Howard. Besser's wife had had a heart attack, however, and he withdrew from the act. A "Stooge fandom" quickly developed, and Howard and Fine found themselves back in demand again with the public. In 1959, Columbia syndicated the entire Stooges film library to television (through its TV subsidiary, Screen Gems), and the Stooges were rediscovered by the baby boomers.

Because of a production backlog, the final Stooges short, Sappy Bullfighters, did not reach theatres until 1959. Columbia Pictures, the last studio still producing shorts, unceremoniously fired the trio in 1957 at the end of production of their final short, Flying Saucer Daffy. Television was the new popular medium, and the Stooges were practically dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the market for short subjects had all but dried up by the time Besser joined the trio.

Besser had a clause in his contract specifically prohibiting him from being hit too hard, though this restriction was lifted as Besser's tenure continued (ironically, Besser was the only "third" stooge that dared to hit Moe back). Joe Besser then replaced Shemp in 1956 and 1957, appearing in 16 shorts. Archived footage of Shemp, combined with new footage of his stand-in, Joe Palma (filmed from behind or with his face hidden), were used to finish the last four films on Shemp's contract. Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack at age 60 on November 22, 1955.

To add insult to injury, death paid the Stooges another visit just three years after Curly's demise. Remakes of earlier Shemp shorts occurred on a regular basis as a cost-saving tactic. Bernds took producer Hugh McCollum with him, and Columbia Short Subjects head Jules White was left to both produce and direct the remainder of the Stooge shorts. The quality of the Stooge shorts took a nosedive in 1952 when director Edward Bernds was fired from Columbia Pictures.

The series was never picked up, although the pilot is today in the public domain and is available on home video, as is an early TV appearance from around the same time on a vaudeville-style comedy series starring Ed Wynn. During this period, Moe, Larry, and Shemp also made a pilot for a Three Stooges television show called Jerks of All Trades in 1949. With Shemp on board, the Stooges went on to appear in 77 more shorts and a mediocre feature entitled Gold Raiders (1951). He died in January, 1952.

Unfortunately, Curly's condition grew worse. Shemp wanted some kind of assurance that his rejoining was indeed temporary, and that he could leave the Stooges once Curly recovered. However, he realized that Moe and Larry's careers would be finished without the Stooge act. Shemp Howard was hesitant to rejoin the Stooges, as he had a successful solo career going at the time of Curly's untimely illness.

It was the only film that contained all three Howard brothers simultaneously (Curly's cameo appearance was recycled in the 1953 remake Booty and the Beast). Curly did make one brief cameo appearance (doing his "Rrrowf! Rrrowf!" routine) in the third film after Shemp returned to the trio, Hold That Lion!, in an effort to boost his morale. Brother Shemp reluctantly rejoined the act to take Curly's place. Curly suffered a stroke on May 6, 1946, curtailing his output at 97 shorts.

You Nazty Spy was the first Hollywood film to spoof Hitler, and was released nine months before the more famous Charlie Chaplin film The Great Dictator. This 18-minute short subject starring Moe as a Hitler-like character satirized the Nazis in a period when America was still neutral and isolationist about WWII. According to a published report,^[1] Moe, Larry, and director Jules White considered their best film to be You Nazty Spy (1940). Jules White directed many others, and his brother Jack White directed several under the pseudonym "Preston Black".

Del Lord directed more than three dozen of the Three Stooges shorts. The Stooges went on to star in 190 film short subjects over the next twenty-three years, the longest such series in history. The same year, the Three Stooges (as the Howard brothers and Fine renamed their act) signed on to appear in two-reel comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures at just a few hundred dollars a week. According to Moe Howard in his autobiography, Moe Howard and the Three Stooges, the Stooges split with Ted Healy in 1934 once and for all because of his alcoholism and abrasiveness.

Ted took one look at Jerome and with his long black locks and facial hair, stated he was not a character like Moe and Larry, so Jerome left the room and returned moments later with a shaved head and face, thus, Curly was born. When Shemp left the act, Ted and the two remaining stooges (Moe and Larry) needed a third stooge, so Moe offered his baby brother, Jerome. Fields. Shemp left the act in 1931 for a career in feature films, notably as trainer Knobby Walsh in the Joe Palooka films, and in The Bank Dick with W.C.

By 1930, Ted Healy and His Stooges were appearing in Hollywood feature films, such as Soup to Nuts. Shemp acquired his name from his mother's attempts to pronounce his name, "Sam", in spite of her thick accent. Brothers Harry Moses Howard (Moe) and Samuel Howard (Shemp) (original last name Horwitz) were later joined by violinist Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg). The Stooges got their name and their start from a vaudeville act called Ted Healy and His Stooges (originally called "Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen"), which was founded in 1922.

. Commonly known by their first names, Larry, Moe, & Curly (sometimes spelled "Curley"); Larry, Moe & Shemp; and other lineups became famous for their work in movies and starred in many short features that consisted of masterful ways of showcasing their extremely physical and sometimes controversial brand of slapstick comedy. The Three Stooges were an American comedy act in the 20th century. They rarely say anything, but are occaisionally spotted in the background.

In the TV show The Simpsons, two regulars of Moe's Tavern are named Larry and Curly. In the 1950s, after numerous complaints by parents of children imitating the Stooges' eyepoke, they went on TV to demonstrate how exactly they did it safely. The illusion looked real on television. The contact point of the "eye poke" was actually the brow bone, not the eyes.

She comments, "I wonder what's wrong with that man?" as she looks up, and gets the pie right in the face. Finally the guest asks, "Young man, what's wrong with you? You act as if the Sword of Damocles was hanging over your head.", to which Moe replies, "Lady, you must be psychic!" and walks away. One of the guests starts talking with Moe Howard, who is getting increasingly nervous as the pie starts coming loose. The legend of the Sword of Damocles gets mentioned in Half-Wits' Holiday (1946), when a pie get thrown up and stuck to the ceiling during a party.

Stooges folklore has it that the Soviet government asked permission for the aging Stooges shorts to be shown on Soviet TV, and that the Stooges declined, their theory being that the Soviets planned to use the Stooges as Cold War propaganda, i.e., evidence that the American people were pathologically violent and/or stupid. Legend has it that the eye poke started when Shemp accused Larry of cheating in a card game, and Shemp poked him in the eyes! Moe, watching all this, laughed so hard he fell off his chair and through his patio glass door. The appearance of the Second Doctor in the British science fiction series, Doctor Who, played by Patrick Troughton, was often compared to that of Moe Howard, although it's not known if this was intentional. The folk trio Modern Man perform the song "Moe" (written by pianist/singer George Wurzbach), about a boy whose father looks like Moe Howard.

An episode of MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch featured the stooges, who were brought to the present age via a time machine invented by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to battle the Three Tenors. Another Vulcan, who is depicted as being familiar with human pop culture, agrees with the assessment. One of the Vulcans is annoyed at being nicknamed "Moe" because of his resemblance to "something called a 'Stooge'". The Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Carbon Creek" features a group of Vulcans stranded in a small American town in the 1950s.

In Louis Sachar's children's novel The Boy Who Lost His Face, a group of three children (one of which being a girl called Mo) is nicknamed after the Stooges. Doctor John Zoidberg from the Futurama TV show makes Curly's trademark "Woo, woo, woo" sound when running away from trouble (sometimes after squirting ink), and sometimes makes Shemp's trademark "Heep, heep, heep" sound when frustrated. (Source: http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/RushInspirations.htm; and...first-hand experience at multiple Rush concerts). A picture of the Stooges and their names is included in the Counterparts linernotes, and they are included in the "assistance, inspiration, comic relief" listing.

The Stooges television series theme music, a derivative of "Three Blind Mice", was used by Rush as introductory music during the Signals through Hold Your Fire tours, and again for the Vapor Trails tour. Tribute to a famous trio by...another famous trio: the legendary Canadian rock group Rush. The movie was executive produced by Mel Gibson. Moe was played by Paul Ben-Victor, Larry by Evan Handler, Shemp by John Kassir, and Curly by Michael Chiklis.

The Stooges were brought back to life (so to speak) in a 2000 TV movie. Homer Simpson from the TV show The Simpsons imitates Curly occasionally, while character Mr Burns suffers from 'Three Stooges Syndrome', where he has every disease known to man, but survives because they all cancel each other out. The Super NES RPG Final Fantasy VI features as bosses the "Three Dream Stooges" (also named Larry, Curly and Moe), who entered Cyan Garamonde's mind while he was facing his inner demons in Doma Castle. The King of the Hill episode "A-Fire Fighting We Will Go" contains several references to the Stooges.

Larry", Pinky and The Brain are inexplicably joined by a third wheel Larry in their plan to get into the White House posing as wallpaperers, whose unwelcome addition to the team causes Stooge-style antics to ensue. In an episode of the cartoon Pinky and the Brain entitled "Pinky & The Brain And.. These three guards are none other than the three stooges. In the computer game remake of Quest for Glory 1, three guards attempt to kill the hero in the Brigand fortress.

In the 1995 computer game Space Quest 6, there was a minigame called Stooge Fighter, which was a humorous tribute to the stooges. The game was also ported to the NES in 1989 by Activision, and then to Game Boy Advance in 2002 Metro 3D (M3). A 1987 computer game by Cinemaware, The Three Stooges, has the stooges trying to save an orphanage where they engage in wacky adventures and engage in some of their classic comic scenes. The 1994 Song, "Two Reelers" by Frank Black tells the story of the four "original" stooges and Jules White, and protests the dismissal of the Three Stooges as mere low-brow slapstick: "If all you see is violence/Well then I make a plea in their defense/Don't you know they speak vaudevillian?".

Among these: the blood flowing in the basement in Evil Dead (an homage to 1940's A-Plumbing We Will Go), the fight with his hand in the kitchen in Evil Dead 2, and the fight with the skeleton hands and with the little Ashes in Army of Darkness. The Evil Dead film series has a number of stooge inspired moments. The 1985 film, Stoogemania tells the story of an obsessed Three Stooges fan, and includes clips of their classic Shorts. The 1984 song "The Curly Shuffle," recorded by Jump N'The Saddle Band, expressed admiration for the Stooges and included several Curly imitations in the chorus.

Kook's Tour (1970). The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). 4 for Texas (1963) (Cameo). It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) (Cameo).

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963). The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962). The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962). Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961).

Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959). Columbia Laff Hour (1956). Gold Raiders (1951). Swing Parade of 1946 (1946).

Rockin' in the Rockies (1945). Yates (1943) (scenes deleted). Good Luck, Mr. My Sister Eileen (1942) (Cameo).