Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in May 1946, and Shemp returned, reconstituting the original lineup, until his death of a heart attack on November 22, 1955, three years after Curly’s death of a cerebral hemorrhage on January 18, 1952. Film actor Joe Palma was used as a stand-in to complete four Shemp-era shorts under contract. This procedure – disguising one actor for another outside of stunt shots – became known as the "fake Shemp". Columbia contract player Joe Besser joined as the third Stooge for two years (1956–57), departing in 1958 to nurse his ill wife after Columbia terminated its shorts division. The studio then released all the shorts via Screen Gems, Columbia's television studio and distribution unit. Screen Gems then syndicated the shorts to television, whereupon the Stooges became one of the most popular comedy acts of the early 1960s.