In his early childhood, Fine's arm was accidentally burned with hydrochloric acid that his father used to test jewelry for its gold content.

Fine had picked up the bottle and, mistaking it for a beverage, raised it to his lips when his father noticed and knocked it out of his hand, accidentally splashing the acid on his son's forearm, causing extensive damage to it.

[8] He became so proficient that his parents wanted to send him to a European music conservatory, but the plan was thwarted by the outbreak of World War I.

Between 1925 and 1928, while serving as the master of ceremonies at Rainbo Gardens in Chicago, Fine met Shemp Howard and Ted Healy,[9] who were performing in the Shubert Brothers' A Night in Spain.

Fine was easily recognized in the Stooge features by his large top bald spot with thick, bushy, curly auburn hair around the sides and back; Moe called him "Porcupine".

According to rumor,[11] his trademark hairstyle had its origin from his first meeting with Healy in which Fine had just wet his hair in a sink, with it drying oddly as they talked.

[12] Film critic Leonard Maltin wrote, "Larry is the least distinctive character of the trio, but he adds a pleasing touch by siding with either Moe or Curly, depending on the situation, thereby enabling him to show moments of lucidity as well as lunacy.

In the hospital spoof Men in Black (1934), Larry, dressed as a surgeon and wielding a large kitchen knife, chortles: "Let's plug him... and see if he's ripe!"

"[12] Writer-director Edward Bernds remembered that Fine's suggestions for the scripts were often "flaky", but occasionally contained good comic ideas.

[12] The Three Stooges became a big hit on television in 1959 when Columbia Pictures released a batch of their films, whose popularity brought them to a new audience and revitalized their careers.

As Joe Besser and director Edward Bernds recalled, because of his constant free-spending and gambling, Fine was almost forced into bankruptcy when Columbia stopped filming Three Stooges shorts in December of 1957.

[16] Larry was on the road and about to take the stage for a live show at Rocky Point Amusement Park in Warwick, Rhode Island, when he heard the news.

In 1965, Fine, Moe Howard, and Joe DeRita started a new TV comedy show, The New 3 Stooges, a mixture of live and animated segments.

On January 9, 1970, Fine suffered a debilitating stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body, which marked the end of his performing career.

Fine eventually moved to the Motion Picture Country House, an industry retirement community in Woodland Hills, where he spent his remaining years, and used a wheelchair during the last five.

"[20] Like Curly Howard, Fine suffered several additional strokes before his death on January 24, 1975, at the nursing home in Woodland Hills, aged 72.

[21] He was interred with his wife and son in a crypt at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Liberation.