Irish McCalla

Irish McCalla; actually Nellie Elizabeth McCalla ( born December 25, 1928 in Pawnee City, Nebraska; † 1 February 2002 in Tucson, Arizona ) was an American actress, model and painter.

Life and career

McCalla grew up with seven siblings, her father worked as a butcher. Between 1939 and 1942, the family moved three times in the place of residence and McCalla moved, at the age of 17, with some of her siblings to Southern California where she worked as a waitress and at an aircraft manufacturer. In 1951 she married insurance salesman Patrick McIntyre and gave birth to two sons. The marriage lasted until 1957.

After being approached by a photographer with the request to stand as Miss Navy Day Model, she worked as a pin -up girl and model. For the pin-up artist Alberto Vargas was the model and is therefore considered as one of the Varga Girls. She graced the cover of numerous magazines such as Eve (1950), People Today (1954 ), Fabulous Females (1955 ) or Blighty (1957).

In 1952 she was cast in a minor supporting role in the film River Goddesses. Your national breakthrough came when she starred in the 1955 television series Sheena - Queen of the jungle took over. Based on a comic book character from 1937 she played Sheena, who grew up as an orphan in the African jungle and can talk to animals. As a female counterpart to Tarzan, it presents itself with curvaceous figure and tight leopard-skin bikini. A total of 26 episodes have been made from 1955 to 1956. About her role, she later said, " I could not act, but i could swing through the trees " ( I could not act, but I'm swinging through the trees).

After her divorce in 1957 she married British actor Patrick Horgan 1958, the marriage was divorced in 1963. McCalla starred in several feature films and television series by Sheena. In later years she devoted herself to painting increased and became a member of Woman Artists of the American West. Some of her works have been exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Arts and Sciences. She died in 2002 of a stroke.

The Irish McCalla was a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1722 Vine Street ).

Filmography

Film appearances

TV appearances