Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor.

[2] Nash made his first foray into show business in 1912 at the age of 15 when he and childhood friend Moe Howard joined the Annette Kellerman Diving Girls, a vaudeville act that included four boys.

[3] The Healys' revue toured, listed on the marquee as Syncopated Toes, and when some of his acrobats quit in late 1923, Moe Howard answered the advertisement for replacements.

Since Howard was not an acrobat, Healy cast his old friend as a stooge (a purported member of the audience who is picked, ostensibly at random, to come onstage).

Ted brought some of the routines he developed with the Howard brothers, using three comics under contract to Carroll, (Dave Chasen, Kenneth Lackey, and Lou Warren).

After a contract dispute whereby it was determined that Carroll was in the wrong, Ted and Betty left "Vanities" in October 1925 with Lou Warren and relaunched their Syncopated Toes revue, now retitled Fun in the Healy Manner.

For Spain, Ted utilized four stooges in some scenes: Shemp, Lou Warren, brother-in-law Sam "Moody" Braun, and Dick Hakins.

Larry Fine, who had been working as the lead performer and house MC at Chicago's Rainbo Gardens nightclub and restaurant, was added to Healy's group of comics in late March 1928.

Moe Howard returned to show business and joining Ted at his home in Connecticut to develop some comedy bits for the revue, which began rehearsals in January 1929.

During the run of A Night in Spain, Ted and Betty performed a song-and-dance stage act in nightclubs and other theaters after the evening show; but the Healys split in 1928.

On his own, Healy was given major roles in MGM features such as Bombshell with Jean Harlow and Operator 13 with Marion Davies and Gary Cooper.

In March 1934, Fine and the Howards permanently and more or less amicably parted professional ways with Ted Healy and began working at Columbia Studios as "The Three Stooges."

Also, in the Technicolor short subject La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935), Jimmy Brewster briefly appears to 'stooge' with Healy.

[12] Healy died on December 21, 1937, at the age of 41, after an evening of celebration at the Trocadero nightclub on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

[13] An MGM spokesman initially announced the cause as a heart attack,[14][15] but the presence of recent wounds—a cut over his right eye and a "discolored" left eye—combined with reports of an altercation at the Trocadero gave rise to speculation that he died as a result of those injuries.

The wrestler Man Mountain Dean reported that he was standing in front of the Plaza Hotel in Hollywood at 2:30 a.m. when Healy emerged, bleeding, from a taxi.

[19] While there is no documentation in contemporaneous news reports that either Beery or DiCicco was present, Broccoli admitted that he was indeed involved in a fist fight with Healy at the Trocadero.

[20] He later modified his story, stating that a heavily intoxicated Healy had picked a fight with him and the two had briefly scuffled and then shook hands and parted ways.

[1] Betty was left responsible for a multitude of liabilities, including hospital bills related to the birth of her son and Healy's medical care.

In the decades that followed, many comedy stars, including Milton Berle, Bob Hope, and Red Skelton, cited Healy as a mentor and significant influence on their careers.