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97 shorts were made by Moe Larry, and Curly up until 1947; during this period it became evident that Curly was having health problems, exasperated by several failed marriages. During the filming of ''Half-Wits' Holiday''[http://www.stoogeworld.com/_Videography/Filmography/Half-Wits.htm] he suffered a major stroke. His last appearance was a cameo in ''Hold That Lion'' (1947)[http://www.stoogeworld.com/_Videography/Filmography/HoldLion.htm][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPFuMKgTvN8&feature=related], but he would not recover. Curly passed away in 1952 at the age of 48.
97 shorts were made by Moe Larry, and Curly up until 1947; during this period it became evident that Curly was having health problems, exasperated by several failed marriages. During the filming of ''Half-Wits' Holiday''[http://www.stoogeworld.com/_Videography/Filmography/Half-Wits.htm] he suffered a major stroke. His last appearance was a cameo in ''Hold That Lion'' (1947)[http://www.stoogeworld.com/_Videography/Filmography/HoldLion.htm][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPFuMKgTvN8&feature=related], but he would not recover. Curly passed away in 1952 at the age of 48.
By then, Shemp was back with the troupe, having had a successful career on his own, and the three would star in 76 more shorts. After the last one was made [http://www.stoogeworld.com/_Videography/Filmography/CommotionOcean.htm] Shemp would suffer a massive heart attack in a taxi in 1956; his death was thought to have ended the act as far as Moe was concerned, but he was persuaded by Columbia executives that it should continue with a new Stooge. Between 1957 and 1959 fifteen shorts were made with Moe and Larry starring with '''Joe Besser''', a long-time friend from their Vaudeville days whose comedy act consisted of childlike behavior [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvDBdUtx-E] and his catchprase "Not Sooooo Faaaassst!" After his contract was up, he was replaced by '''Joe DeRita''' (who took the screen name "Curly Joe" because of his resemblance to Curly Howard), and the three were able to take advantage of a resurgence of the Stooges in television; feature films and commercials [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DATpxpOeCbg][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iEPB_No5Qo&feature=related] were added to the act.
By then, Shemp was back with the troupe, having had a successful career on his own, and the three would star in 76 more shorts. After the last one was made [http://www.stoogeworld.com/_Videography/Filmography/CommotionOcean.htm] Shemp would suffer a massive heart attack in a taxi in 1956; his death was thought to have ended the act as far as Moe was concerned, but he was persuaded by Columbia executives that it should continue with a new Stooge. Between 1957 and 1959 fifteen shorts were made with Moe and Larry starring with '''Joe Besser''', a long-time friend from their Vaudeville days whose comedy act consisted of childlike behavior [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvDBdUtx-E] and his catchprase "Not Sooooo Faaaassst!" After his contract was up, he was replaced by '''Joe DeRita''' (who took the screen name "Curly Joe" because of his passing resemblance to Curly Howard), and the three were able to take advantage of a resurgence of the Stooges in television; feature films and commercials [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DATpxpOeCbg][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iEPB_No5Qo&feature=related] were added to the act.
The Stooges gained popularity with a new generation of fans when their theatrical shorts began being [[broadcast syndication|syndicated]] on television by Columbia Pictures' TV division Screen Gems (now Sony Pictures Television) in September 1958. In 1965, Moe, Larry and Curly Joe also lent their voices to a syndicated Saturday morning cartoon series called ''The New Three Stooges'', as well as appearing in live-action wraparound segments on that show, though that series lasted for a single season. In addition, the Stooges kept in the spotlight by making appearances on numerous talk, variety and game shows over the next few years. The last project to feature the lineup of Howard, Fine and DeRita was a pilot episode for a planned syndicated TV series called ''Kook's Tour'', a sitcom/travelogue hybrid which was to have the Stooges traveling the world after retiring from show business, with each episode of the series filmed on location; out of a planned 39 episodes for its first season, only the pilot was completed.
During the filming of the ''Kook's Tour'' pilot, Fine suffered a major stroke on January 9, 1970 which both ended his acting career and led to the rest of the series being scrapped, while the pilot was edited and turned into a 52-minute film released for the home video market in 1973.[https://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/238] Although the classic Stooges lineup ended with Fine out of the picture due to his declining health following his stroke, Howard continued appearing on talk shows, making appearances in minor roles in feature films and doing speaking appearances at colleges, while DeRita retired from performing. After a further series of strokes, Fine died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Los Angeles on January 24, 1975 at age 72. Moe Howard died of lung cancer at age 77 on May 4, 1975 in Los Angeles. Joe Besser died of heart failure at age 80 on March 1, 1988 in North Hollywood, California. Joe DeRita, the last surviving Stooge, died of pneumonia on July 3, 1993 in Los Angeles, nine days before his 84th birthday.
The Three Stooges' legacy transcended the passings of its members over time, as their animated likenesses (voiced by celebrity impersonators) were featured in two [[CBS]] Saturday morning animated shows made by Hanna-Barbera - two episodes of ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies'' in 1972 (with the lineup of Moe, Larry and Curly Joe) and ''The Robonic Stooges'' (with the classic lineup of Moe, Larry and Curly), originally as a segment of ''The Skatebirds'' in 1977, then as a standalone series in 1978. A made-for-TV biographical movie, ''[[The Three Stooges (2000 film)|The Three Stooges]]'', was produced by [[Mel Gibson]] and aired on [[ABC]] in 2000, and a comedic feature film, also called ''[[The Three Stooges (2012 film)|The Three Stooges]]'' and based on the classic 1932-1946 lineup of Moe, Larry and Curly and set in modern times, was released to theatres by [[20th Century Fox]] in 2012. The classic Three Stooges theatrical shorts continue to air on television today, currently showing on classic TV network [[MeTV]] on Saturday nights.