She first appeared in Halloween (1978) as a high school student who becomes targeted by serial killer Michael Myers, in which she was portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis.
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 17-year-old Laurie (Curtis) is a high school student who has plans to babysit Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) on Halloween night, 1978.
Laurie notices Michael watching her and becomes increasingly worried, though her best friends Annie (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda (P. J. Soles) brush off her concerns.
Meanwhile, 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.
[3] In Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Laurie is revealed to have died prior to the film's events, with the role of protagonist taken up by her young daughter, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris).
[8] In this timeline, Laurie faked her death in a car accident as a way of escaping her murderous brother, whose body was not found after Halloween II.
She is now living under the name Keri Tate, and works as the headmistress of a California private school, where her teenage son John (Josh Hartnett) is a student.
Although he falls into her trap, Laurie's fears of again killing the wrong person get the better of her; when she tries to remove his mask, Michael stabs her and throws her off the roof, to her death.
When Michael is institutionalized for killing their older sister Judith (Hanna R. Hall), their mother Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie) is unable to cope and commits suicide.
The infant Laurie is discovered by Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif), who omits her from the records for her own protection, and she is eventually adopted by the Strode family.
The adult Michael (Tyler Mane) escapes and comes home in search of his sister, killing her adoptive parents and her friend Lynda (Kristina Klebe) before kidnapping Laurie.
Loomis, who has become a greedy and arrogant mercenary profiting from the murders of the previous film, reveals in his book “The Devil Walks Among Us” that she is Michael's sister and that she also suffers from his "illness".
[13] The film establishes that Michael (James Jude Courtney) was arrested following his killing spree in 1978, and institutionalized for 40 years in Smith's Grove Sanitarium.
The mob surrounds and attacks Michael, but he arises from seeming defeat and slaughters them all while Karen and Allyson receive medical treatment at the Myers house.
Allyson's new boyfriend, Corey, becomes a kind of apprentice to Michael after they meet in the sewers and helps him in his kills, eventually taking on the Shape persona.
At the conclusion of the book, Laurie kills Tommy (losing an eye in the process) and is subsequently incarcerated in Smith's Grove, where Dr. Terence Wynn takes an interest in her.
[16][17] The anthology one-shot comic Halloween: 30 Years of Terror includes a Laurie Strode storyline entitled "Visiting Hours".
Laurie concludes that "I can't even dream of a normal life without [Michael] killing it", and can do nothing but wait for her brother's inevitable "visit" to set her free.
No characters from the films are specifically named, with the goal of the game focusing on the player, who is a babysitter, protecting children from a "homicidal maniac [who] has escaped from a mental institution".
[20] Laurie Strode was added as a playable character, alongside Michael Myers, in downloadable content for Dead by Daylight released in October 2016.
James Rose notes the parallels between Laurie and Sally, stating: Italian magazine editor Stefano Lo Verme, wrote that the 23-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis was the undisputed "scream queen" of American horror in 1978.