Esther M. Hartenstine) from July 13, 1935, until her death on September 6, 1965; they had no children. DeRita married his second wife, Jean Sullivan, the following year on December 28. Sullivan's sons from a previous relationship, Earl and Robert Benjamin, control licensing rights to many deceased celebrities, including the Three Stooges, through C3 Entertainment. DeRita was the only member of the Stooges who was not Jewish. Death DeRita died of pneumonia on July 3, 1993, nine days before his 84th birthday. He was residing at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, at the time of his passing. He was the last surviving member of the Stooges. DeRita is interred in a grave at the Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California; his tombstone reads "The Last Stooge", as he outlived Joe Besser by five years and 4 months. Legacy Although DeRita enjoyed working with Moe and Larry and made a living doing it, he was not a fan of the Stooges' humor. He once told an interviewer the following: I don't think the Stooges were funny. I'm not putting you on, I'm telling the truth—they were physical, but they just didn't have any humor about them. Take, for instance, Laurel and Hardy. I can watch their films and I still laugh at them and maybe I've seen them four or five times before. But when I see that pie or seltzer bottle, I know that it's not just lying around for no reason. It's going to be used for something. I was with the Stooges for 12 years and it was a very pleasant association but I just don't think they were funny. On April 24, 2000, ABC aired a television movie about the Stooges, with actor Peter Callan (who bore an eerie resemblance to DeRita at the time) playing DeRita. Filmography References External links 1909 births 1993 deaths Male actors from Pennsylvania American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American male comedians 20th-century American comedians American people of English descent American people of French-Canadian descent Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Deaths from pneumonia in California Male actors from Philadelphia The Three Stooges members Vaudeville performers 20th-century American male actors American male comedy actors Columbia Pictures contract players