The Taco Bell dog “Gidget” has died in Santa Clarita. She was 15.
Say adios to the Chihuahua who made millions of Americans crave Taco Bell.
Gidget, the pup who rose to fame with the catchphrase “Yo quiero Taco Bell,” died after a stroke Tuesday at age 15, People.com reports.
“She made so many people happy,” said Sue Chipperton, Gidget’s trainer.
Gidget became Taco Bell’s spokesanimal in 1997, and her commercials ran until 2000. In addition to her Taco Bell gig, she appeared in a commercial for the ’90s edition of Trivial Pursuit and played Bruiser’s mom in “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.”
The pup enjoyed hikes and lying out in the sun when she wasn’t working, Chipperton told People at a Hollywood animals photo shoot in February, but Gidget was always a professional at work.
“One time, I kid you not, she actually pushed her stand-in out of the way because he was still there when she arrived on set,” Chipperton said. “Gidget always knew where the camera was.”
This is truly a terrible loss. Aside from Marilyn Chambers (the industry-creating, groundbreaking and very flexible adult film star who died earlier this year in Canyon Country), Gidget’s passing is perhaps the highest profile celebrity death in the Santa Clarita Valley all year.
Who among us soared to the heights of fame like Gidget? Who among us, in this place, can say we closed the Stock Market
or graced the cover of something called “TV GUIDE”
or educated Americans about the great culture, language, gastronomy, and values of Mexico?
or breathed the rarefied air of mega stardom with our own line of stuffed animal toys?
I know no one on my street can say that.
Hell, I know of no one else in the Santa Clarita Valley that can say that.
Truly, a giant has left us!
Now it’s true I had no idea Gidget actually called the SCV Home. In fact, I’m pretty sure I hadn’t even thought of Gidget in about 10 years. But now that I know, WiFido & I mourn. Goodbye Gidget. I hope you’re running around that big dog park in the sky, sniffing as many dogs as possible. RIP!