Lash LaRue

Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana in 1917,[2][3] 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 and the College of the Pacific.[3] Strangely, his California death records reportedly indicate the actor's father's surname was Wilson and that Lash was born in Michigan.[1]

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.[4] 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 stereotyped as a cowboy for the remainder 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.

After appearing in all three of the Eddie Dean Cinecolor singing Westerns in 1945-46, LaRue starred in B-westerns from 1947 to 1951, at first for Poverty Row studio Producers Releasing Corporation, then for Eagle-Lion when they took over the studio, and later for producer Ron Ormond.[5]

The popularity of LaRue's first appearance as the "Cheyenne Kid" (who appeared initially as a sidekick of singing cowboy hero Eddie Dean in the 1945 musical Song of Old Wyoming), using a whip expertly to disarm villains, paved the way for LaRue to star in his own 8-film Cheyenne Kid feature film series in 1947, made by PRC. LaRue inherited from Buster Crabbe a comic sidekick in the form of "Fuzzy Q. Jones" (played by Al St. John). It was at this time that he developed his image as cowboy hero Lash LaRue, dressed all in black. He then starred in his own 11-film "Lash LaRue" series, produced by "Western Adventure Films", in which he played a character actually named "Marshall Lash LaRue". Those 11 films (from 1948 to 1951) are the ones that western movie fans refer to as the "Lash LaRue film series" (see Filmography below).

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 contemporary 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 using a bullwhip in some of his Republic Studios Westerns made during the same period.

LaRue made frequent personal appearances at small-town movie theaters that were showing his films during his heyday of 1948 to 1951, 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 perform in real life the things he did on screen. He continued working in films and television until he retired in 1990.

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 on the syndicated television series 26 Men, true stories of the Arizona Rangers. LaRue also appeared on Jimmie Jackson's television show Memory Lane.[7] He appeared seven times in different roles in the 1956 TV western Judge Roy Bean. One of his roles on Judge Roy Bean was as the outlaw John Wesley Hardin. He portrayed another real-life criminal, Doc Barker, in the TV series Gangbusters, which was later recut into the film Guns Don't Argue. LaRue and Steve Brodie shared the role (from 1959–1961) of Sheriff Johnny Behan in Cochise County, Arizona, on ABC's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, starring Hugh O'Brian. LaRue appeared five times; Brodie, nine times.

A role as the villain in a pornographic western, Hard on the Trail, in 1972, 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 re-titled Hard Trail in an attempt to eliminate the double entendre.[8]

LaRue died of emphysema in 1996 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. He had recently undergone triple-bypass surgery and suffered from emphysema. He was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. He was survived by his wife, Frances Bramlett LaRue,[2] three sons and three daughters.[3] He had reportedly been married at least ten times.[3]