Larry Fine

Larry Fine — stooge with roots in the Russian Empire

Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg) was the middle member of The Three Stooges — the wide-eyed, frizzy-haired comedy mediator between the aggression of Moe and the anarchic innocence of Curly. He appeared in all 190 Stooges short films and is one of the most recognisable faces in American comedy history.

Tracing the roots — Jewish

Born in Philadelphia in 1902 to parents who had emigrated from Russia (Russian Empire), Fine grew up in the Jewish immigrant neighbourhood of South Philadelphia. The Three Stooges' anarchic, physical comedy was the shared cultural product of three Jewish immigrant families — the Horowitzes and the Feinbergs — who found the same language of survival through absurdity.

A career defined by ambition