TV's 'Sheena' dies

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Irish McCalla, an actress best known for her title role in the 1950s television series "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle," has died. She was 73.

McCalla died Feb. 1 of complications from a brain tumor and stroke, her eldest son, Kim McIntyre, said Saturday. She had been moved to a Tucson care home about 18 months earlier after being diagnosed with her fourth brain tumor, McIntyre said.

"I couldn't act, but I could swing through the trees," McCalla once told The Prescott Courier.

Sheena, a female version of Tarzan, had originated as a comic book heroine in 1938.

After Sheena, McCalla had parts on TV's "Have Gun with Travel" and "Route 66," and appeared in five movies -- "Five Bold Women," "Five Gates to Hell," "Hands of Strangers," "The Beat Generation" and "She Demons," a horror film that became a cult classic.