| Lash LaRue | |
|---|---|
Lash LaRue, from the cover of Lash LaRue Western #2 (Fawcett Comics, Nov. 1949) |
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| Born | Alfred LaRue June 15, 1921 Gretna, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | May 21, 1996 (aged 74) Burbank, California |
| Other names | Al LaRue |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1944–1951 |
| Spouse | Reno Browne Barbara Fuller |
Alfred "Lash" LaRue (June 15, 1921[1]–May 21, 1996) was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. He had exceptional skill with the bull whip, and taught Harrison Ford how to use a bullwhip in the Indiana Jones movies. LaRue was one of the first winners of the Golden Boot Award in 1983.
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Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna in suburban Jefferson Parish near New Orleans, Louisiana, of Cajun ancestry, 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.[1]
He began acting in films in 1944 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, and later for producer Ron Ormond. He developed his image as a cowboy hero dressed all in black and inherited from Buster Crabbe a comic sidekick in the form of "Fuzzy Q. Jones" played by the great Al St. John.
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 1948-1951, becoming the only cowboy star most children of the time ever got to see and meet in person. 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.
Lash LaRue Western comic books were published first by Fawcett Comics and later by Charlton Comics, between 1949 and 1961. They were among the most popular Western-themed comics of the era, running for more than 100 (usually monthly) issues.
For a time he was married to Reno Browne, a B-western actress, who together with Dale Evans was one of only two Western actresses ever to have their own comic book fashioned after her character. He later married Barbara Fuller who was an accomplished actress of both radio (Clauda on One Man's Family) and motion pictures and television, having played opposite Charles Boyer.
Lash LaRue comic books sold over one million copies around the world and many of them featured Lash and Barbara's godson, J.P. Sloane.
In the later 1950s, LaRue was featured in archival footage numerous times on the children's program, The Gabby Hayes Show. He appeared several times too on the syndicated television series 26 Men, true stories of the Arizona Rangers. He appeared seven times in different roles in the 1956 TV Western, Judge Roy Bean, starring Edgar Buchanan in the title role, with Jack Buetel and Jackie Loughery. One of his roles on Judge Roy Bean was as the outlaw John Wesley Hardin. La Rue also had the continuing role as Sheriff Johnny Behan on ABC's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.
However, after decades of popularity, interest in Westerns faded and he was forced to make a living from appearances at conventions for western film buffs and sometimes as an evangelist on the rodeo and country-music circuit. Problems with the Internal Revenue Service made it difficult for him to work.
A role as the villain in a pornographic western, Hard on the Trail, led him to repentance as a missionary for ten years, as he had not been informed of the adult nature of the film and would not have consented to appear in the film. He did not actually appear in any of the pornographic scenes. The film was later released without the pornographic scenes and retitled Hard Trail to eliminate the double entendre.[2]
Late in his career, he appeared in two low-budget horror films shot in the South, Alien Outlaw and The Dark Power. In the latter, he plays a park ranger who makes extensive use of the bullwhip to battle wild dogs and attacking zombies.
LaRue often returned to his native Louisiana, where he was a regular at the jam sessions at the Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans. In his autobiography, Backbeat, drummer Earl Palmer recalls:
He was a born-again Christian who was baptized at Shreveport Baptist Tabernacle by pastor Jimmy G. Tharpe. Tharpe initially met La Rue in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish, when LaRue was visiting the home of his daughter. He and another minister, Don Chelette of Alexandria, were at the time knocking on doors to win souls to Jesus Christ, when they met LaRue and his daughter. Tharpe thereafter declared a "Lash LaRue Day" at his church at which LaRue gave his Christian testimony: "He came, and we had a wonderful service in our gymnasium. There were thirty-seven people saved in the gym that day. He cut paper from the mouth of Debbye, my daughter, with his whip. We all rejoiced over Lash LaRue and his testimony. I introduced Lash to others, and several churches invited him to give his testimony, and he accepted."[3]
He was one of several people injured by a tornado while in attendance at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri, on August 20, 1952.
He died of emphysema at St Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, and was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Professional wrestler John LeRoux borrowed his ring name from La Rue, dubbing himself "Lash LeRoux" in 1999.
In the film Pulp Fiction, Winston Wolf refers to Vincent Vega as Lash LaRue and asks if he can keep his spurs from jingling and jangling.
70's pop band Starbuck included a tribute song to La Rue on their album Moonlight Feels Right.
He was mentioned in The Statler Brothers song "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott", and the Tom Paxton song "My Pony Knows the Way". He is incorrectly described as a Jew who changed his name to Lash LaRue in the song "Take A Walk On The Kosher Side" by Gefilte Joe And The Fish.
In The Rockford Files episode "A Material Difference," Jim asks if Angel is moonlighting as Lash LaRue.