Posted on 05/28/2025 7:47:38 PM PDT by lowbridge
Marilyn Howard Ellman, the youngest daughter of The Three Stooges star Curly Howard, died May 6 in Simi Valley of heart failure, her son Bradley Server told The Hollywood Reporter. She was 86.
With her parents divorced and her father often on the road at the height of his career in the early 1940s, Ellman only got to visit him maybe two weekends a month, her son noted. Later, she would spend time with him in the hospital after he had suffered a series of strokes, one of which forced him to leave The Three Stooges in 1946.
“My mom vividly remembers how much he loved animals,” Server said in a 2020 interview. “She would always play with a dog he had. And he absolutely adored this dog that stood by him until the end. You know, despite my grandfather’s big personality onscreen, I learned he was actually a shy, quiet man in private.”
Ellman was just 13 when her dad died at age 48 on Jan. 18, 1952, in San Gabriel, California. Curly had been replaced in the act by brother Shemp Howard, who joined another brother, Moe Howard, and Larry Fine.
Marilyn Howard was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 18, 1938. Her dad — birth name Jerome Lester Horwitz — and mom, Elaine Julia Ackerman, were married for three years before they divorced in 1940. (Curly would have a second daughter named Janie with his fourth wife.)
After Curly’s death, she was adopted by her mother’s second husband, Moe Diamond, when she was 14.
Ellman graduated from North Hollywood High School and attended USC for two years before she worked as a procurement buyer in the electronics business. She would marry twice, and her survivors include her older son, Darren; daughter Andrea; granddaughter Elizabeth; and half-brother Michael.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I loved The Stooges. And the Little Rascals.
RIP
Proud member here of “The He Man Women Haters Club’’.
I think I remember that episode.
A long while back, urinals had a brass button you would push to flush it. It usually said "press". In one of their early short films the boys wanted to sneak into an event. They ducked into the men's room and came out with the brass buttons fastened to their lapels.
When passing security the boys pointed to their lapels. Moe: "Press". Larry: "Press". When it was Curly's turn to display his credentials he showed his lapel button "Push". I always loved that! So, so, much like Curly.
I hope his daughter has a wonderful reunion with her dad in heaven!
I loved watching the 3 stooges.
What a difference a few generations can make when it comes to deciding what “being fat” looks like.
As a kid I always heard Curly was the fat stooge, and later on comedian Jackie Gleason was known as the fat funnyman.
Nowadays, the two men don’t seem to have been all that “fat” at all. Portly, stout, husky, or bigboned maybe, but neither was John Candy kind of fat. There used to be lots of Kate Smith jokes too. She Shelly Winters and Julia Child were Big Girls, for sure, but none ever approached Lizzo in latitude.
Sorry, I was in love with Darla.
Circa 1972 Maracaibo, Venezuela (Pre Chaves and a great duty station in the oil field) we would go to Rincon’s Restaurant. It was an outdoor restaurant and indoor if you wanted. The played the old master pieces in black and white of the Three Stooges, WC Fields and all the other comic greats of that era. It was great fun and they served a damn good steak. The outdoor portion was quite large and had the movie screen set up there and oddly the old air frame of a Cessna 150 for the customers kids to play in. I could not resist and joined them.
In Cucata, Columbia is a bridge. It just a very ordinary bridge between Venezuela and Columbia. I crossed it many times in my travels from Venezuela to Columbia. It was just a bridge.
Today is is a bridge of sorrow. The desperate now flee Venezuela across this bridge.
I had great times in Venezuela before Marxism destroyed it. It had the highest standard of living in South America and salaries then before Marxism destroyed it.
I lived in El Paso Tx in middle school — 1966 - 1969. Juarez, just across the river, was safe enough for my mom and grandmother to take us kids to Juarez for the day, shopping, museums, etc, while my dad was at work. Nowadays, it’s too dangerous for even combat veterans, much less unaccompanied ladies. Sad.
Yeah she was a cutie. Darla Hood.
And who can forget the golden tones of “The International Silver String Submarine Band’’?
I had great times in Venezuela before Marxism destroyed it. It had the highest standard of living in South America and salaries, before Marxism destroyed it. As did Cuba pre-Castro
Marxism kills everything it thinks is an enemy even when not.
Pol Pot of Cambodia was the pinnacle of Marxist insanity. If you were educated you were killed. If you had glasses you could read and were probably educated and were killed. About 25% of the Cambodian population was killed. That is one in four.
Tyrants kill to maintain power and are evil. They do not kill based on ideology unless they are Marxists. Marxists kill for power as needed, they kill massively for ideology. They are evil.
I don’t remember that one. If I heard it, it would probably come back to me.
Why is this news? Or of interest to anyone?
A relative of an ancient celebrity dies of old age.
Slow news day.
I have a cat named curly another named moe. Have a dog named shemp and a new pup named Howard. No im not a big fan. Did not name any animals Larry as that is a family name.
“Slow news day.”
Lighten up, Francis. Uptight stiff. It’s because it brought back a lot of fond memories for most of us.
In a related story, Emma Johnson, a grandniece (through marriage) of beloved early-tv star Arnold Stang (the voice of "Top Cat"), is still going strong at 88.
Regards,
Ping
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