Biography

Irish McCalla

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Born
December 25, 1928 · Pawnee City, Nebraska, USA
Died
February 1, 2002 · Tucson, Arizona, USA (brain tumor and stroke complications)
Birth name
Irish Elizabeth McCalla
Height
5′ 9½″ (1.77 m)

Irish McCalla was born on December 25, 1928 in Pawnee City, Nebraska, USA. She was an actress, known for She Demons (1958), Sheena: Queen of the Jungle (1955) and Hands of a Stranger (1962). She was married to Patrick Horgan and Patrick H. McIntyre. She died on February 1, 2002 in Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Following her retirement from acting, she became an accomplished painter of seascapes and Western or Native American motifs.
The statuesque pin-up star, whose measurements were 39-24-38, began appearing in girlie magazines; a photographer recommended her for the role of leopard skin-suited Sheena in the jungle series.
Was cast in the lead role of the short-lived television series Sheena: Queen of the Jungle (1955) only after Anita Ekberg had declined the role.
At age 17, she rejoined some of her siblings in Southern California, where she worked as a waitress and in an aircraft factory.
Overcame a brain tumor in 1969 and again when it returned in 1981. President of McCalla Enterprises, Inc. Member of Woman Artists of the American West. Her artwork is displayed in the Western White House, Los Angeles Museum of Arts and Sciences, and the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. She was once a "Varga Girl" model. Has painted more than 1,000 paintings, eight collector plates and numerous limited-edition lithographs.

[on her "qualifications" for playing the title role in Sheena: Queen of the Jungle (1955)] I couldn't act, but I could swing through the trees.
[on German director Carl Junghans, her director on River Goddesses (1952)] [He] openly said women should be kept in concentration camps for breeding purposes only: that's all we were good for.
[on describing her family during her childhood] We were a typical, big Irish family, we could fight like cats and dogs, but if you picked on any one of us, you'd have all of us on your neck.
[on how the comic book heroine Sheena was an inspiration towards her during her youth long before she actually portrayed the character on TV] I used to play among the trees and make believe I was Sheena, and that my brother was Tarzan.
[on her response towards the cameraman who commented on how after she completed her audition for the role of Sheena that she really looked like an open field runner who had lived in a jungle her whole life] Well, I'm a country girl, I know how to run.