Irish McCalla was an actress famous in America during the nineteen fifties. She is best known for her role as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, in the fifties TV series of that name.
Irish McCalla was born in Pawnee City, Nebraska in the year 1928. Her birthday is the twenty fifth of December (Christmas). Her family moved several times when she was a child, and she changed high schools repeatedly before graduating in the mid forties. Going to work at age seventeen, Irish McCalla moved to California. She lived there for a decade and married an insurance salesman. During this period, in addition to working as a waitress, Irish McCalla became a successful pin-up model.
In the early fifties, Irish McCalla was discovered on the beach by an agent for Nassour Studios, which cast her in the lead for the TV series "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle". The program was filmed in Mexico. For many years, Irish McCalla performed her own stunts on the show before breaking her arm while swinging from a vine. After the twenty six episodes of the show ended, Irish McCalla appeared in a few movies including "Five Gates to Hell", "Hands of a Stranger", and "Have Gun - Will Travel", before her film career petered out. Irish McCalla's earlier success had come mainly from her athletic looks, and she was unable to excel as an actress.
After her acting career ended, Irish McCalla became a prolific painter, producing over one thousand works of art. She also appeared at various conventions and on TV appearances over the years in relation to her famous role as Sheena. She was married at least three times over the course of her life, divorcing her insurance salesman husband during her film career and later being wed to Patrick Hogan, the British actor. Irish McCalla died of a stroke at the age of seventy three on February first, 2002