That haunting, ghostly "Yip! Yiiiiiiiiiiiip!" followed by a mournful "Aoooooooooooo!" you heard late Tuesday night was (for once) not your neighbor's annoying dog. It was the sound of a beloved pop culture icon shuffling off this mortal coil and retreating to a better place. That's right, as I'm sure you've been crying about for hours at this point: Gidget, the "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" chihuahua died this week. She was 15 in dog years, 76 in human years, and 13 in humans-with-Progeria years.
Considering that Gidget was the star of a massive fast food ad campaign, some Geico ads, and Legally Blonde 2, you might think that she had a pretty good canine acting career. But that little sparkplug could have done so much more, if only the small-minded Hollywood complex hadn't held her back. She was a brilliant flame snuffed out far too soon.
From The Daily News:
She was immortalized in toys and was credited with making Chihuahua sales soar, and some of her other Taco Bell lines became famous, such as "Drop the chalupa!" and "Viva gorditas!"
She would later appear in a Geico ad in 2002 and the film "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde" in 2003. But she didn't get much work in her later years because she was typecast, her trainer said recently.
Yes, the chihuahua was typecast…as a chihuahua. It must have been heartbreaking for Gidget to put on her leash, hop in her carrier, and go to audition after wearying audition, only to be told over and over again, "You're great, Gidge. But I look at you and I see a chalupa. Sorry." In her later years, Gidget became so depressed working the sad Ramada Inn conference rooms of the Advertising Mascot Conventions circuit, she turned to drugs—at first it was just a few Vicodin mixed in with her wet food, but eventually it became a $100/day heroin habit. She and Eddie from Frasier would shoot up before autograph signings underneath their collars so no one would see the track marks. When Eddie died of an overdose in 2006, Gidget gave a moving eulogy at his funeral, Aooo-ing to the tune of "Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs." There wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was then that Gidget decided she wasn't going to let what had happened to Eddie happen to her. By 2007 she was out of rehab, and ready to work, pounding the pavement again on castings. But, sadly, the bookings never came.
If only they had given her a shot! Why, Gidget had such breathtaking range as an actress, she could have handled any number of roles. For example:
1. Marley.
Gidget was on the short-list to play the scrappy, but doomed, yellow lab owned by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. But at her callback, Owen Wilson claimed Gidget's slender frame made him look fat, and Gidget was told "We're going in another direction: a yellow lab to play the yellow lab."
2. One of the dogs in Hotel For Dogs.
Gidget had high hopes of snagging the role of "Chihuahua" in Hotel For Dogs. Instead producers Hired a Pomeranian, clipped her, and slathered her with self-tanner. Typical Hollywood "ethnic" casting.
3. Tom Cruise's role in Valkyrie.
Truth be told, Gidget looked far less ridiculous in that eyepatch: Striking, strong, utterly authentic. But at the last minute, the director decided he wanted to go for less realism.
4. Viola in the Shakespeare In The Park production of Twelfth Night.
Gidget had played Viola twice before in smaller community productions, and Gidget's Viola was a revelation: wistful, nuanced, and brimming with enthusiasm. But when it came time to cast the Shakespeare in the Park version, the role went to Anne Hathaway—a move that stung Gidget all the more because the talented chihuahua had turned down Hathaway's break-out role in The Devil Wears Prada (Gidget deemed it "too fluffy"). Gidget was the it girl no more.