Biography

After Columbia shut down its shorts department, the Three Stooges took their act on the road. What they did not know was that they had found a renewed popularity thanks to their old theatrical film shorts being sold to television, exposing them to a whole new (and younger) audience. Larry's sister recalled that when their train pulled into some towns, there were mobs of people waiting. Larry, Moe and Joe DeRita would wonder who the V.I.P. was; they had no idea the crowd of people waiting was for them.

His son John died in a car accident on November 17, 1961. He was 24 years old. His daughter Phyllis died of cancer on April 3, 1989. She was 60 years old.

The same day the Three Stooges left Ted Healy and MGM, Moe Howard signed a contract for them with Columbia Pictures, and Larry, not aware of this, signed a contract for them with Universal Studios. The matter was eventually taken before a judge who determined Moe's contract was valid because it was signed mere hours before Larry's contract. After that, Larry never tried handling the business aspect of their careers again and instead left all that to Moe.

Larry had calluses on the left side of his chin, which he claimed resulted from years of getting slapped around by Moe in the movies. But Larry was a trained violinist from childhood, and this type of scarring is an occupational hazard among fiddle players.

In his youth, he trained as a boxer and had several bouts as an amateur before his father found out and put a stop to it. However, his boxing training did come in handy for his later career with Ted Healy and then The Three Stooges.