Laurie Strode

Lore & Background

Laurie Strode first appears in the original Halloween (1978). The 17-year-old Laurie is a high school student who has plans to babysit Tommy Doyle on Halloween night, 1978. Throughout the day, she keeps seeing a mysterious masked man watching her wherever she goes; unbeknownst to her, he is Michael Myers, an escaped mental patient who murdered his sister, Judith Myers, fifteen years before and has begun stalking her. Laurie notices Michael watching her and becomes increasingly worried, though her best friends Annie and Lynda brush off her concerns.

As Laurie babysits Tommy, Myers kills Annie and Lynda in the house across the street. Growing concerned when they fail to call her, Laurie goes to investigate and sees their corpses laid out for her to find, before being attacked by Michael. Barely escaping, Laurie races back to the Doyle house. Michael follows, but Laurie manages to fend him off long enough for Tommy and Lindsey to escape.

Laurie is saved by Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael's psychiatrist, who shoots him off the balcony; when Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he finds it missing. An unsurprised Loomis stares off into the night, while Laurie begins sobbing in terror. Halloween II (1981) picks up directly after the first film, with Laurie Strode being taken to a hospital. Dr. Loomis discovers that Laurie is Michael and Judith's sister; she was put up for adoption after the death of their parents, with the records sealed to protect the family.

Realizing that Michael has killed one sister and now wants to kill the other, Loomis rushes to the hospital to find them. Laurie shoots Michael in the eyes, blinding him, and Loomis causes an explosion in the operating theater, allowing Laurie to escape. Michael, engulfed in flames, stumbles out of the room before finally collapsing. The traumatized Laurie is last seen being transferred to another hospital, along with another survivor, Jimmy.

In Halloween: Resurrection (2002), Laurie, now an inmate of a sanitarium, lures Michael onto its roof, but he stabs her and throws her to her death.

Reader's Guide

Created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, Laurie appeared in nine of thirteen films in the series (and is seen briefly in photographs and video footage in at least two others). The character has subsequently been represented in various other media, including novels, video games, and comic books. Most entries in the franchise depict Laurie as Michael's younger sister, although this detail is not present in the first film and was also disregarded by the most recent entries - the 2018 film and its two sequels. The character is primarily portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis, who appears as Laurie in the original film and six of its sequels. In the two films directed by Rob Zombie, she is played by Scout Taylor-Compton.