Ted Healy

Ted Healy was an American vaudeville performer and comedian who created the slapstick trio that became the Three Stooges. Born in Kaufman, Texas, in 1896, he entered show business as a teenager in 1912 with a vaudeville diving act alongside his childhood friend Moe Howard. He later developed his own vaudeville act as Ted Healy. On Broadway he appeared in A Night in Spain and A Night in Venice. Fox hired him for Soup to Nuts (1930), and MGM later brought him and his act to Hollywood. At MGM he had an important supporting role in Dancing Lady (1933) and major roles in Bombshell and Operator 13. He made a run of MGM features from 1934 to 1937 and was loaned to 20th Century-Fox and Warner Bros. He also appeared in San Francisco (1936). His final film, Hollywood Hotel (1937), was released shortly after he died. Milton Berle, Bob Hope, and Red Skelton cited him as an influence.