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Lash LaRue

Lash LaRue
Larue-lash.jpg
Lash LaRue, from the cover of Lash LaRue Western #2 (Fawcett Comics, Nov. 1949)
Born Alfred LaRue
(1917-06-15)June 15, 1917
Gretna, Louisiana, United States
Died May 21, 1996(1996-05-21) (aged 78)
Burbank, California
Other names Al LaRue
Occupation Actor
Years active 1944–1951
Spouse(s) Reno Browne
Barbara Fuller
Frances Bramlett LaRue

Alfred "Lash" LaRue (June 15, 1917–May 21, 1996) was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. He had exceptional skill with the bullwhip and taught Harrison Ford how to use a bullwhip for the Indiana Jones movies. LaRue was one of the first recipients of the Golden Boot Awards in 1983.

Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana in 1917, he was reared in various towns throughout Louisiana, but in his teens the family moved to Los Angeles, California, where he attended St. John's Military Academy. However, California death records show his father's last name as Wilson and that he was born in Michigan. He also attended the College of the Pacific.

He began acting in films in 1944 (at age 27) as Al LaRue, appearing in two musicals and a serial before being given a role in a Western film that would result in his being cast in a cowboy persona for virtually the rest of his career. He was given the name Lash because of the 18-foot (5.5 m)-long bullwhip he used to help bring down the bad guys. The popularity of his first role as the Cheyenne Kid, a sidekick of singing cowboy hero Eddie Dean, not just brandishing a whip but using it expertly to disarm villains, paved the way for LaRue to be featured in his own series of Western films. After appearing in all three of the Eddie Dean Cinecolor singing Westerns in 1945-46, he starred in quirky B-westerns from 1947 to 1951, at first for Poverty Row studio PRC, then for Eagle-Lion when they took over the studio, and later for producer Ron Ormond.

He developed his image as the cowboy hero Lash LaRue, dressed all in black, and inherited from Buster Crabbe a comic sidekick in the form of "Fuzzy Q. Jones" played by Al St. John. LaRue played the Cheyenne Kid sidekick in about 8 films, before he starred in his own film series, playing a character actually named "Marshall Lash LaRue". Those 11 films (from 1948-1951) are the ones that western movie fans refer to as the "Lash LaRue" film series (see Filmography below).


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