Actors - Irish McCalla

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	Actors - Irish McCalla

Nellie Elizabeth "Irish" McCalla (born December 25, 1928 or 1929 (sources differ), Pawnee City, Nebraska, United States; died February 1, 2002, Tucson, Arizona) 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 very fit 39½-26½-39½ in 1996, in her late 60s.

Early life

She 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, Omaha, Nebraska in September 1942, and later returned 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. She had two sons, and 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 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." 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 1562250051), 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.

Later life and art career

She 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.

McCalla died of a stroke and complications from her fourth brain tumor — two of the previous came in 1969 and 1981 — and was survived by two sons and two granddaughters, among other relatives.

Asteroid (83464) Irishmccalla is named in her honor.

Filmography

River Goddesses (1952) — Herself at the Internet Movie Database
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 a.k.a. The Answer (1962) — Holly

Magazine bibliography

This list is incomplete

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

Quotes

Carol Hatfield, The Realist (Winter 1994) : "hen I was eight years old 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."

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