Biographies: Joe DeRita - Actor

Biographies

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An American actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on July 12, 1909 and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA, on July 3, 1993, of pneumonia. He married two wives and had no children. His most important films are The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962), The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963), and Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961). He was born into a family of theater businessmen in Philadelphia as the youngest of five brothers to parents of French and English origins. His father was a theater artist, and his mother a theater dancer. He began acting at the age of seven accompanied by his parents. In 1942, he participated in the Burlesque Theater (Satirical Theatre) . During World War II, he joined the United Service Organization to Aid Soldiers and Their Families (USO) with Randolph Scott, Bing Crespi, and Joe Dirita He participated in the cinema with his first film, The Doughgirls (1944), and continued his film, television and radio performances before joining the Three Stooges team in 1958, succeeding Joe Besser. His most notable television work is The New 3 Stooges (1965) in which he presented 197 episodes. When the Three Stooges team was dissolved, he preferred to retire, and his last work was the movie Kook's Tour (1970). He died of pneumonia in 1993 at the age of 84.