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.
Stagecoach
as LashStory follows a stagecoach ride through Old West Apache territory. On board are a cavalry man's...
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Lady on a Train
as Circus Club Waiter / HenchmanWhile watching from her train window, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder in a nearby building....
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The Dark Power
as Ranger GirardThe spirits of dead Indians are haunting a couple's house, and they call in an exorcist, whose...
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Border Feud
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisA marshal with a whip and a sheriff with a sense of humor end a gold-mine feud.
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Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
as (archive footage)A Western-genre narrative, loosely woven from old clips from B-Western features.
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King of the Bullwhip
as Lash LaRueA whip-cracking federal marshal goes under cover as a masked bandit to ferret out a gold-bullion...
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Ghost Town Renegades
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisGold has been found and Sharp is out to get the land. He has the land owners killed and then has...
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Law of the Lash
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisWhen Decker's gang holds up a stage, henchman Lefty takes a lady's rings. Later lefty...
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The Master Key
as MigsyBefore the outbreak of WWII, Nazi sympathizers plot to undermine America.
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Cheyenne Takes Over
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisCheyenne has been ordered to take a vacation so Fuzzy has him go to a ranch of a friend. When...
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Alien Outlaw
as Alex ThompsonAliens land in a small town where Jesse Jamison is about to have a gun show and bullets fly...
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Pioneer Justice
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisA ranger in Buffalo Gap has been killed and the trail leads to a gang headed by Bill Judd. When...
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Stage to Mesa City
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisLash and Fuzzy sent to help John Watson with his stage line arrive to find him murdered....
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Wild West
as Stormy Day (as Al LaRue)Eddie and his sidekicks have been called in to help get a new telegraph line through. Dawson and...
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Return of the Lash
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisSix wanted outlaws are rounded up and captured by the Cheyenne Kid. Collecting the reward money,...
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Son of Billy the Kid
as Jack GarrettLash helps a reformed Billy the Kid protect his bank from bandits.
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Lanton Mills
as PhantomTilman and Lanton Mills, two cowboys who set off on horseback to rob a bank. On the way, they...
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The Black Lash
as U.S. Marshal Lash LaRueHaving sent Deuce Rago to prison in Frontier Revenge (1948), Lash finds he's out and his outlaw...
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Heartaches
as DeLong aka Trigger Malone (as Al LaRue)Up-and-coming Hollywood actor/crooner, Vic Morton, has a secret. He starts receiving death...
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Escape
as Gas Station OwnerA young woman travels from Chicago to a corrupt North Carolina town to investigate her brother's...
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Pair of Aces
as HenryA Texas Ranger has to protect his two daughters as he investigates a serial killer who is...
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The Fighting Vigilantes
as Marshal Cheyenne DavisTaylor's men are robbing incoming supply wagons to enable Taylor to sell goods at inflated...
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Outlaw Country
as Lash La Rue / Frontier PhantomLash goes south of the border looking for a counterfeiter, a kidnapped engraver and his...
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Guns Don't Argue
as 'Doc' BarkerThe actions of various criminals such as Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde and Baby...
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Son of a Badman
as Lash La RueLash and Fuzzy come to town to unmask the mysterious outlaw kingpin, El Sombre.
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The Enchanted Valley
as Pretty BoyArmed robbers invade the home of a crippled boy and his grandfather and the effect the boy and...
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The Vanishing Outpost
as Lash LaRueWalker is an undercover Pinkerton Agent and gets Lash and Fuzzy involved in cleaning up the...
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Song of Old Wyoming
as The Cheyenne KidOld Ma Conway champions statehood for Wyoming, believing the measure would put an end to the...
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The Thundering Trail
as Marshal Lash LaRueLash and Fuzzy have been sent to escort the new Governor to the Capitol City. West and his...
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Mark of the Lash
as Lash LaRueThere's a dispute over water rights, and every lawman that arrives to settle the score is...
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The Daltons' Women
as Lash LaRueThe Dalton gang has moved west taking new identities and Marshals Lash and Fuzzy are after them....
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Frontier Revenge
as Lash La RueMarshals Lash and Fuzzy are sent to get the goods on Duce Rago. To join Rago's gang, Lash...
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The Frontier Phantom
as Lash La Rue / The Frontier PhantomLash Larue seeks to arrest his twin brother, known as the Frontier Phantom
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Please Don't Touch Me!
as Dr. WarrenA woman who is unable to have sex with her husband goes to a psychiatrist for help. He sends her...
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The Caravan Trail
as Cherokee (as Al La Rue)The Caravan Trail stars PRC Pictures' resident singing cowboy Eddie Dean. This time around,...
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Lash LaRue: A Man and His Memories
as uncreditedTim Ormond’s rarely seen documentary in which the beloved western star reflects upon his life...
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Hard on the Trail
as SladeLash La Rue played the villain in the film, and was not involved in any of the sex scenes.
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Cheyenne
as uncreditedCheyenne is an American western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on...
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Racket Squad
as uncreditedRacket Squad is an American TV crime drama series starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock,...
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The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
as uncreditedThe Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a television western series loosely based on the life of...
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26 Men
as uncredited26 Men is a syndicated American western television series about the Arizona Rangers, an elite...
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Judge Roy Bean
as uncreditedJudge Roy Bean is a syndicated American Western series starring Edgar Buchanan as the legendary...
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Lash of the West
as Marshal Lash La RueShort-lived kids' series found Lash La Rue, as his U.S. Marshal alter-ego, sitting in his office...
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