{{multiple issues| {{Primary sources|date=December 2007}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2015}} {{Lead too short|date=April 2022}} }} {{Infobox character | name = Larue | image = Lynette Winter as Larue Wilson.jpg | image_size =270px | caption = Lynette Winter as Larue in ''[[Gidget (TV series)|Gidget]]'' | first = ''Gidget, The Little Girl With Big Ideas'' | last = ''[[The New Gidget]]'' | nickname = | gender = [[Female]] | occupation = Student. Later, travel agent | family = | spouse = | relatives = | portrayer =Lynette Winter<br>[[Anne Lockhart (actor)|Anne Lockhart]]<br>[[Jill Jacobson]] | creator = Frederick Kohner }}
'''Larue Wilson''' is a fictional character introduced in the [[Frederick Kohner]] novel ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas'' ([[1957 in literature|1957]]). She also appears in much of the [[television]] work involving [[Gidget]].{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}
==The Novel== Larue is first mentioned as described by [[Gidget]] in the novel ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas'': <blockquote>"I called Larue who is my girlfriend across the street. Larue is one year older than I and in the possession of a genuine driver's licence as well as a jazzed up Ford vintage 1930. No kidding. She had inherited it from her mother who had driven it for sixteen years. It's a convertible with a new motor in it and beats a Cadillac any day. Some guy had offered her five hundred bucks for it but she had just looked down her nose at him—and she's got quite a long nose. Everything on Larue is long: her nose, her feet, her arms, her teeth, her fingernails, and when she had the mumps, it was the longest mumps on record. I often feel sorry for her. Her love life is defunct—unless you believe my brother in law who figures Larue is sublimating with horses. She works at this crummy stable all the time and rides the horses of people who board them there. It doesn't cost her a nickel."<ref name=novel>''Gidget'' by Fredrick Kohner (2001) Berkley Publishing Group (first printing 1957).</ref></blockquote> Larue is a fairly minor character in this novel, and she does not appear in any of the subsequent [[Gidget]] novels by Kohner, nor in any of the three [[Gidget]] motion pictures produced by [[Columbia Pictures]]. She reemerges as a principal character in the [[1965 in television|1965]]-[[1966 in television|1966]] [[sitcom]] version of ''[[Gidget (TV series)|Gidget]]''.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}
==Television== [[Image:Larue Powell.jpg|thumb|Anne Lockhart as Larue Powell in ''[[Gidget's Summer Reunion]]''.]] [[Image:Larue Wilson.jpg|thumb|Jill Jacobson as Larue Wilson in ''[[The New Gidget]]''.]] In the [[television]] [[sitcom]] ''[[Gidget (TV series)|Gidget]]'', Larue is played by [[Lynette Winter]]. Her last name is not given in the novel, and only once in episode #11 she is referred to by Anne as "'''Larue Shelby'''". As the best friend of Frances "[[Gidget]]" Lawrence ([[Sally Field]]), she gets caught up in Gidget's schemes and misadventures. Larue frequently is presented as a foil to [[Gidget]]. She often joins her on her trips to the beach, but is fair-skinned, never wearing anything too revealing and sporting a large hat to protect against the sunlight. Some of [[Gidget|Gidget's]] friends see Larue as uncool (e.g. Dolly in episode #11 "My Ever Faithful Friend"), but she generally is depicted as average. She and [[Gidget]] are usually inseparable.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}
In the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] [[telemovie]]s ''[[Gidget Grows Up]]'' ([[1969 in television|1969]]) and ''[[Gidget Gets Married]]'' ([[1972 in television|1972]]), Larue does not appear, but she does appear as "'''Larue Powell'''" in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] [[telemovie]] ''[[Gidget's Summer Reunion]]'' ([[1985 in television|1985]]), played by [[Anne Lockhart (actor)|Anne Lockhart]].
In ''[[The New Gidget]]'' ([[1986 in television|1986]]), Larue, renamed "Larue Wilson", is played by [[Jill Jacobson]].
Other facts about Larue based on information given in the show:<ref name=dvd>''Gidget: The Complete Series'' (2006). [DVD set]. New York: Sony Pictures.</ref> * She regularly does eye exercises. * She is fluent in at least some Spanish, which is a necessity as her home has a housekeeper who only speaks the language. * She is into [[equestrianism]], as seen in "My Ever Faithful Friend," which is partially centered around her regular trips to the stable and interest in buying "Snowball," an older white horse. * Larue is older than Gidget by a few months, and had her drivers license while Gidget did not. This necessitated her getting involved in some of Gidget's schemes in which driving was required. For example, in one episode, Gidget is hired as a delivery girl for a florist, but the owner of the shop is unaware that she can't drive. So Larue shows up at shop during Gidget's shift in order to drive the delivery van. * She has an older first cousin who dated Gidget in the episode "Image Scrimmage."
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0935789|Lynette Winter}} *{{IMDb name|0414865|Jill Jacobson}} *{{IMDb name|0516860|Anne Lockhart}} {{Gidget}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Larue}} [[Category:Sitcom characters]] [[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1957]] [[Category:Characters in 20th-century American novels]] [[Category:Female characters in literature]]