Friea is a character in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz. According to Schulz, Frieda's character was inspired by his longtime friend Frieda Rich, a local artist whom he met while taking classes at the Minneapolis Art Instructions School. She was a regular in Peanuts throughout the 1960s, but as newer characters were phased in towards the end of the decade she began appearing less often, and she ceased to be a featured character after 1975, making only cameo appearances since then. Today she is best remembered as the Peanuts character with naturally curly hair, of which she is extremely proud.