IRISH MCCALLA

'Nellie Elizabeth "Irish" McCalla' (December 25, 1928 – February 1, 2002) was an American actress and artist best-known as the title star of the 1950s television series ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'', based on the first comic book heroine to star in her own title.
Formerly a ''Varga Girl'' model for pinup girl artist Alberto Vargas, the statuesque McCalla had measurements reported as an improbable 39½-18-37 at age 18, and a more believable 39½-24-36 during the filming of ''Sheena'', according to ''Celebrity Sleuth'' magazine — which also listed her as a fit 39½-26½-39½ in 1996, in her late 60s.

Contents

Early life

Sheena

Later life and art career

Quotes

Filmography

Magazine bibliography

Cover

Interiors

Footnotes

References

External links

Early life

Born in Pawnee City, Nebraska, United States, McCalla was one of eight children of father Lloyd, a butcher, and mother Nettie Geiger McCalla. The family moved often, settling in Des Moines, Iowa in late 1939 when Lloyd began working for Condon Bros. meat dealers. They family lived at 1070 10th Street. Nellie attended Washington Irving Junior High School before the family moved to Marshalltown, Iowa in November 1941, and Omaha, Nebraska in September 1942, before returning to Pawnee City, where she completed high school. At 17, she joined some of her siblings in Southern California, where she worked as a waitress and at an aircraft factory.
She married insurance salesperson Patrick McIntyre in 1951, with whom she had two sons. McCalla was already a popular pinup model by 1952, when she and other models appeared in the film ''River Goddesses'', consisting of several voluptuous young women frolicking barefoot in the Grand Canyon.

Sheena

In a newspaper interview, McCalla recalled being discovered by a Nassour Studios representative while throwing a bamboo spear on a Malibu, California, beach, famously adding of her ''Sheena'' experience, "I couldn't act, but I could swing through the trees".^[1] Her 26-episode series aired in first-run syndication from 1955-56.
The athletic, reportedly 5'10" McCalla said she performed her own stunts on the series, filmed in Mexico, until the day she grabbed an unsecured vine and slammed into a tree, breaking her arm. Her elder son, Kim McIntyre, once told the press he remembered watching his mother swinging from vine to vine and wrestling mechanical alligators.
In the 1992 biography ''TV's Original Sheena: Irish McCalla'' (Paragon Publications/AC Comics;
ISBN 1-56225-005-1), she stars in a comic-book story, "Irish, Queen of the Jungle", written and drawn by Bill Black, C. Bradford Gorby and Mark G. Heike.
Following the one-season ''Sheena'', McCalla appeared in five films from 1958 to 1962, and guest roles on the TV series ''Have Gun — Will Travel'' and ''Route 66''. Additionally, she formed 'McCalla Enterprises, Inc.'
[http://members.optusnet.com.au/%7Epwgr2/Sheena/Sheena-home.htm The Sheena Complete website has an in depth biography of Irish McCalla and Sheena with many rare never before seen photos.

Later life and art career

McCalla and McIntyre divorced in 1957, and the following year McCalla married prolific British actor and James Joyce/Sherlock Holmes scholar Patrick Horgan. They divorced in 1963. McCalla was reportedly married a third time, though by then she was out of the spotlight and details are sparse. She moved from Malibu to Prescott, Arizona in 1982.
As an artist, McCalla reportedly completed more than 1,000 paintings and eight collector plates, and sold lithographs of her work. McCalla was a member of Woman Artists of the American West, and her work has reportedly been displayed at the Los Angeles Museum of Arts and Sciences. She made personal appearances at autograph conventions, appearing as late as 1996 in a faux-leopard Sheena costume. McCalla has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1722 Vine Street.
Aged 73, Irish McCalla died of a stroke and complications from her fourth brain tumor — previous tumors were diagnosed in 1969 and 1981 — and was survived by two sons and two granddaughters, among other relatives.

Quotes

★ 'Carol Hatfield', ''The Realist'' (Winter 1994) "[W]hen I was eight years old[, Sheena] was the only female portrayed on the tube who didn't conform to the fifties stereotype. Sheena was a real rugged individualist. Watching her struggle with a new adventure every week made me feel more capable at a time when everything was so unexplored. If she could handle the jungle, I felt sure that I could handle my world".^[2]

Filmography

★ ''River Goddesses'' (1952) — Herself

★ ''Irish McCalla at the Beach'' (1950?) Five-minute film of Irish modeling a leopard-skin bikini and a striped bikini

★ ''Queen of the Jungle'' (1956) Three TV episodes with new footage, created for non-U.S. theatrical market — Sheena

★ ''She Demons'' (1958) — Jerrie Turner

★ ''The Beat Generation'' (1959); reissued as ''This Rebel Age'' — Marie Baron

★ ''Five Gates to Hell'' (1959) — Sister Magdalena

★ ''Five Bold Women'' (1960) — "Big Pearl" Jackson

★ ''Hands of a Stranger'', also known as ''The Answer'' (1962) — Holly

Magazine bibliography

Cover

★ ''People Today''  Aug. 11, 1954

★ ''Focus''  Sept. 1954

★ ''Snappy''  March 1957 (back cover)

Interiors

★ ''Vue''  Oct. 1952

★ ''Photo''  Oct. 1954

★ ''Point''  Dec. 1955

★ ''Vue''  March 1956

★ ''Show''  Oct. 1956

★ ''People Today''  Dec. 1957

Footnotes

1. Associated Press obituary, Feb. 11, 2002, quoting her from a previous article in ''The Prescott Courier'' of Prescott, Arizona
2. ''The Realist'' (Winter 1994): "I Remember Sheena", by Carol Hatfield

References

★ Associated Press obituary in ''The Honolulu Advertiser'', Feb. 11, 2002

★

★ ''Des Moines Register'': Famous Iowans — Irish McCalla, Television Star, 1928-2002

External links

★ Photos

★ Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (fan site)