Shocktober 10/14/21

Samuel "Shemp" Howard is best known for his two stints with the Three Stooges (in the early 1930s and from 1946 until his death from a massive coronary in 1955).

Before that second run as a Stooge, though, he'd made a name for himself with his own series of shorts, plus supporting roles for stars at Universal, including W.C. Fields (The Bank Dick), Abbott & Costello (Buck Privates, Hold That Ghost) and various other movies (The Invisible Girl, The Strange Case of Doctor Rx).

In 1946, Shemp's younger brother, Jerome (best known as Curly), suffered a serious stroke on the set of Halfwit's Holiday and was never able to return to the act (aside from a brief cameo as a sleeping train passenger in Hold that Lion), so Shemp put aside his solo career and rejoined the Stooges.

Once there, Shemp starred alongside Larry and Moe in numerous shorts, including several horror-themes ones like Spooks, which was originally shown in the then-new process of 3D.

Shemp never made another movie or short without Moe or Larry, and in 1956 Shemp suffered a heart attack after attending a boxing match and died while on the taxi ride home. He was 60 years old.