Lash LaRue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 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. LaRue was originally screen tested by Warner Bros. but was rejected because he looked too much like Humphrey Bogart, then one of the studio's contract stars . 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. He was different from the usual cowboy hero of the era: dressed in black, he spoke with a "city tough-guy" accent somewhat like that of Humphrey Bogart, whom he physically resembled. His use of a bullwhip, however, was what set him apart from bigger cowboy stars such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. His influence was felt throughout the dying medium of B-westerns; for example, he had an imitator, Whip Wilson, who starred in his own brief series, and even Roy Rogers started picking up and using a bullwhip in some of his Republic Studios Westerns made in the same period. He also made frequent personal appearances at small-town movie theaters that were showing his films during his heyday of 1948-51, a common practice for cowboy stars in those days. However, his skillful displays of stunts with his whip, done live on movie theater stages, also convinced young Western fans that there was at least one cowboy hero who could do in real life the same things he did on screen. He continued working in films and television until he retired in 1990. LaRue died of emphysema in 1996 (age 78) at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, and was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. He was survived by his wife, Frances Bramlett LaRue, three sons and three daughters.

Known For: Acting

Born: Gretna, Louisiana, USA, 1917-06-15

Died: 1996-05-21

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1945	The Master Key	Migsy	0
2	1945	Lady on a Train	Circus Club Waiter / Henchman	66
3	1945	Song of Old Wyoming	The Cheyenne Kid	52
4	1946	The Caravan Trail	Cherokee (as Al La Rue)	0
5	1946	Wild West	Stormy Day (as Al LaRue)	0
6	1947	Law of the Lash	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	56
7	1947	Border Feud	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	40
8	1947	Heartaches	DeLong aka Trigger Malone (as Al LaRue)	45
9	1947	Pioneer Justice	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	50
10	1947	Ghost Town Renegades	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	40
11	1947	Stage to Mesa City	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	0
12	1947	Return of the Lash	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	30
13	1947	The Fighting Vigilantes	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	50
14	1947	Cheyenne Takes Over	Marshal Cheyenne Davis	50
15	1948	The Enchanted Valley	Pretty Boy	0
16	1948	Dead Man's Gold	Lash LaRue	40
17	1948	Mark of the Lash	Lash LaRue	50
18	1948	Frontier Revenge	Lash La Rue	50
19	1949	Outlaw Country	Lash La Rue / Frontier Phantom	37
20	1949	Son of Billy the Kid	Jack Garrett	50
21	1949	Son of a Badman	Lash La Rue	0
22	1950	The Daltons' Women	Lash LaRue	20
23	1950	King of the Bullwhip	Lash LaRue	60
24	1951	The Thundering Trail	Marshal Lash LaRue	40
25	1951	The Vanishing Outpost	Lash LaRue	0
26	1952	The Black Lash	U.S. Marshal Lash LaRue	0
27	1952	The Frontier Phantom	Lash La Rue / The Frontier Phantom	40
28	1957	Guns Don't Argue	'Doc' Barker	35
29	1959	Please Don't Touch Me!	Dr. Warren	58
30	1969	Lanton Mills	Phantom	0
31	1971	Hard on the Trail	Slade	0
32	1976	Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch	(archive footage)	90
33	1985	Alien Outlaw	Alex Thompson	28
34	1985	The Dark Power	Ranger Girard	39
35	1986	Stagecoach	Lash	54
36	1987	A Tribute to Houdini	Self	60
37	1989	Escape	Gas Station Owner	62
38	1990	Pair of Aces	Henry	50
39	1992	Lash LaRue: A Man and His Memories		0
40	1992	Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys	Himself (archive footage)	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1951	Racket Squad		60
2	1952	Gang Busters		0
3	1953	Lash of the West	Marshal Lash La Rue	50
4	1955	Judge Roy Bean		50
5	1955	The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp		68
6	1955	Cheyenne		58
7	1957	26 Men		42

Lash LaRue

Film

Television