Irish McCalla - The Final Years

IRISH McCALLA - THE FINAL YEARS
Page 3: Those Three Husbands

PATRICK McINTYRE - 1951 to 1957
As discussed on both Page 5: Boyfriends and Page 7: First Husband of the Modelling section, Irish became involved with Pat McIntyre during a period when she was not talking to Ben Chapman. Chapman, a tall, good-looking Tahitian had become Irish's steady boyfriend during what appears to be a whirlwind romance following her breakup with Conway Stafford. He was living in Malibu in early-1951 and he and Irish had become seriously involved and were engaged to be married. Chapman would later gain fame as the actor inside the gill-man suit in The Creature From The Black Lagoon. In mid-1951, during a temporary separation from Chapman following an argument, a mutual friend introduced Irish and McIntyre, a tall, handsome insurance salesman. The previous year he had noticed Irish in a restaurant and on that occasion he poked the friend he was with and said, "You know, if I met a girl like that, I'd marry her in a minute." When they were introduced by the mutual friend Pat reminded Irish of the green knitted dress that he had seen her wearing at the restaurant where he had first seen her the previous year (TV Radio Mirror). Irish has said it was "love at first sight". They were married in Las Vegas three weeks later, in June 1951, and Irish was 22-years-old (Prevue).

Irish quit her evening job at the McDonnell-Douglas aircraft factory to allow her to spend more time with her new husband, but she continued her modelling career for additional income. The newlyweds were soon separated when Charles Bloch, her modelling employer at Globe Photos, who she was under contract with, arranged for her to perform as a showgirl at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Globe wanted her to model for them a few times while she was a showgirl and wanted to keep her under contract. She also had the opportunity to make some extra money by posing for publicity shots and doing radio advertising. Irish had just found out only a week before that she was pregnant with their first child. Pat wasn't too happy about the idea at first but the casino had offered to pay her $200 per week and he consented when it was pointed out to him that it would only last a few months. Irish also wanted to buy Pat an expensive suede jacket for Xmas so she took the job. Pat would fly up to Vegas every few weeks to spend the weekend and Irish said that in between these visits she squandered more money on long-distance phone calls to Pat than she intended because she was so homesick (Tease) (read the full story on The Vegas Showgirl page in the Modelling section).

Kim, their first son, was born in 1952, and Sean, their second, was born in 1954. Between the birth of the the two boys Irish had auditioned for, and won, the role of Sheena (see Page 2: The Recommendation in the Audition section). She frequently said that she pursued the role of Sheena because she wanted a divorce and needed the extra money to achieve some independence. This suggests that the enforced separation caused by Irish spending seven-and-a-half months filming the Sheena series in Mexico may not have been totally disagreeable to them, although we are unaware of Pat's point of view on this matter.

A 1953 Night and Day magazine photo spread of Irish explained that the couple lived on a one acre block of land in the San Fernando Valley and that Irish had her own vegetable garden, as well as numerous large trees on the property. The couple were still putting on a happy face for publicity in mid-1956, and a TV Radio Mirror story elaborated that the San Fernando Valley home was a ranch-style house in Studio City, which is nestled in the foothills of the north slope of the Santa Monica mountains. The magazine had photos of the happy couple and their sons in their home and gave the impression that everything was rosey with the family. The photo at the top of this page, as well as the photo on Page 7: First Husband in the Modelling section, are both from that photo shoot.

When Irish returned to the US from Mexico in May 1956 and found that the Sheena was a runaway success across the nation she embarked on an intensive promotional tour of the whole country. She and Pat were divorced the following year, bringing to fruition the goal that Irish had begun to plan for four years earlier. In a 1994 interview Irish said of Pat, "We didn't know it at the time, but we got along much better when we weren't together." (Prevue)

The two photos at right were kindly donated by Irish's son, Kim McIntyre.

PATRICK HORGAN - 1958 to 1966

British actor, Patrick Horgan, was born into an Irish family in Nottingham in May 1929. His parents, both doctors, urged him to go to medical school but he dropped out before graduating and moved to America to become an actor. His first role was an episode of the 1956 television series, The Count of Monte Cristo, which starred George Dolenz, the father of famous Monkees drummer, Mickey (Wikipedia & IMDb).

Irish married Horgan in 1958 and the couple moved to Manhattan because that was where the best theatrical roles were for an aspiring actor. They lived in an apartment in Greenwich Village and Irish would spend her spare time exploring the streets looking for art and book stores. She also loved history and the wonderful bookstores of New York satisfied that passion admirably. However, the most fortuitous aspect of this enforced move to the Big Apple for Irish was that it exposed her to the spectacular art collections of New York's celebrated museums - the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Irish also spent many hours frequenting the abundant small galleries in the Village and other locations in Manhattan (see also the Irish McCalla's Art Career page). Irish always had a sweet tooth and one of her favourite haunts while residing in New York was was Napoleons, an Italian pastry shop on Greenwich Avenue. Black and Feret claim that the couple stayed in New York for several years and that Irish only moved back to her beloved Malibu after their divorce in 1966, which I believe is erroneous. In 1962, while she was making Hands of a Stranger, Irish was dating Gardner McKay, the handsome star of TV's Adventures In Paradise (see link for more details) (Scarlet Street). It is clear that she had separated from Horgan earlier than 1966 and Irish would not have delayed returning to her beloved Malibu.

It is also worth noting that during this period of time (1958 to 1966) Irish appeared in five feature films (see the Films pages), made guest appearances on three television programs and travelled widely to promote Sheena, including a trip to Australia and Japan (see Page 4: Irish on Tour in the Personal Appearances section). Irish and Horgan were obviously frequently separated, especially during the early days of their relationship when Irish was busy promoting Sheena. This isn't unusual for a couple who are both involved in the entertainment industry, but is interesting in light of the evidence that the marriage was largely over by 1962. In an interview Irish said that she and Horgan were always apart when they were first married, which contributed to her desire to quit the entertainment business. "I thought, 'Well, this is no way to have a marriage.' So I quit the business. If I'd stayed in it we'd probably still be married, because we got along fine as long as we were apart!" (Scarlet Street) It is interesting to compare this comment with the similar comment made by Irish about Patrick McIntyre above. I don't think this suggests that Irish was being flippant about her ex-husbands, nor do I think it is evidence that she was difficult to get along with. I think Irish was merely using a tried and tested gag for humorous effect during the interview, in the same way that most people frequently rely on stock phrases during conversations.

Patrick Horgan also appeared in numerous popular television series during the 1960s and early-70s: Daniel Boone (1964-70); Twelve O'clock High (1964-67); The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. (1966-67); Mission Impossible (1966-73); Green Acres (1965-71); Star Trek (1966-69) (right); and Bewitched (1964-72). He also had two long stints in TV daytime soap operas. He is probably best-known for his portrayal of DR John Morrison from 1970 to 1974 in the long-running series, The Doctors (1963-82). He also played Ansell Scott on The Edge of Night (1975-84) from 1976 to 1977 (Wikipedia & IMDb). Horgan also appeared on Broadway, but it should be acknowledged that he was mostly an understudy. In 1965 he appeared as Captain Gregg in Baker Street, an original Broadway musical about Sherlock Holmes. In 1975 he got a chance to play Holmes himself when he substituted as an understudy for John Wood, the lead in Sherlock Holmes (1974-76). He was also understudy for the role of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1976-77). Horgan has also appeared in several feature films, most notably in the 1968 heist classic, The Thomas Crown Affair, with Steve McQueen. He also provided the voice of the narrator in Woody Allen's Zelig (1983). Allen also cast Horgan as Kensington Guest in his 2001 noir spoof, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (Wikipedia & IMDb).

The choice of Patrick Horgan as the narrator in Zelig is not surprising, for he was endowed with a rich reading voice and throughout his career recorded more than 500 books, including the entire Sherlock Holmes canon. His other fascination was James Joyce and is well-respected in recorded book circles for being the first actor to produce a recording of Joyce's challenging work, Finnegan's Wake. Patrick Horgan was also an author who wrote (and recorded) an autobiographical tale about discovering that Sir Arthur Conan Doyles' murder of Sherlock Holmes was an elaborate hoax - The Detection of Sherlock Holmes (Amazon.com).

According to the Internet Movie Database, 77-year-old Patrick Horgan was still living in late 2006.

CHUCK ROWLAND - 1982 to 1989

In 1982 Irish married her third husband, Chuck Rowland, who was a national sales manager for an auto glass firm. Black and Feret report that Rowland had been an Irish McCalla admirer long before he met her, as an Irish pin-up had been his favourite companion when he was in service during the Korean War. "He never imagined in his wildest dreams that one day he would marry his dream girl." They rhapsodise.

As mentioned on the Page 2: The Celebrity Circuit - Again, the couple soon moved to the peaceful surroundings of a timbered property on the outskirts of Prescott, Arizona, the town Irish lived in for the rest of her life. Chuck was several years younger than Irish and he was always amazed at her high energy levels, as she had many varied pursuits and she would throw herself completely into all of them. As a consequence he dubbed her "Miss Perpetual Motion". Black and Feret added that she would also answer to "Miss Motor Mouth", a term she coined herself.

Chuck was with Irish when she faced some very serious health problems during the 1980s, which are documented on the previous page. They separated in 1989 but remained extremely close friends and continued to see each other often. He was responsible for her becoming involved in the real estate business in Prescott, also documented on the previous page (Black & Feret).

Irish frequently published a newsletter for fans. Here is an excerpt from the one she sent out in the fall of 1993: "I'm still getting body strength by hauling up broken limbs for Kim to saw into firewood, shoveling rock from the gully to the easement road, raking pine needles and cones into the wheelbarrow and dumping them in 'Chuck's damn ditch.'" Not only does this passage give an idea of why Chuck called her Miss Perpetual Motion, but it gives a slightly humourous insight into their relationship. They had obviously clashed about Chuck's plan to install a gully somewhere on the property, and Irish harboured some mild resentments about being stuck with it after he left and was trying to fill it in with pine cones and needles (Black). The mid-90s photo of Irish wearing one of her "old Hollywood dresses" (above) was taken on the porch of the cabin near Prescott, Arizona where she and Chuck lived for seven years. Irish was in her mid-60s and it is clear that she still retained the curvaceous figure that had made her famous.

CONCLUSION

In her Fall 1993 Newsletter Irish mentions visiting Malibu for several days to visit her old friend Carol Bretonne (right), who ran the Tidepool Gift Shop there. Carole organised a party so that Irish could get together with some of her old friends. She also said that while in Malibu "I also saw my new special friend - and NO I'm not going into detail on that." The following year in an interview with Prevue magazine Irish disclosed that she had a younger boyfriend. She said that it originally concerned her a little but eventually learned not to worry about what other people thought of her. Bill Black wrote that during his regular telephone conversations with Irish over the years she would sometimes mention her boy friend. He said that he got the impression that the men in her life would come and go. "Ironic, that one of the most beautiful women of our time never found Mr Right." he remarked.

Irish told Black and Feret while working on her biography that when she was young she only went with men who were "smashingly handsome, tall and athletic". As she grew more mature in her tastes she didn't worry so much how they looked but became more concerned about whether they were kind, interesting, friendly and whether they had a good sense of humour. Irish also once said that it took her three marriages to work out what her son Sean seemed to know instinctively: that neither of them were the marrying kind. "I like to come and go as I please," she said, "and I'm very happy when I'm alone' (Prevue)

TOP OF PAGE

PAGE 4: THE END

SOURCES
• TV Radio Mirror magazine, Jul 56
• Prevue Pin Up Special 2 magazine, Aug-Oct 94
• Tease magazine No. 3, 1995
• Wikipedia online encyclopedia
• Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
• TV's Original Sheena - Irish McCalla by Bill Black & Bill Feret, Paragon Publications 1992
• Scarlet Street magazine No. 23, 1996
• Irish of the Jungle magazine, written and edited by Bill Black, Paragon Publications 2003
• Amazon.com website reviews on books and recorded books
IMAGES
• The photo of Pat McIntyre holding Kim and Irish holding Sean was kindly donated by Frank Bonilla
• The photo of Pat McIntyre and Irish with Kim and Sean and the photo of Irish with her grown sons were both donated by Kim McIntyre. Thanks a million for sharing these very personal photos with us, Kim.
• The photo of Patrick Horgan was pilfered from one of the fan pages for The Edge of Night
• The Star Trek collectors' card featuring Patrick Horgan as Eneg in the episode Patterns of Force (1968) was pilfered from an eBay auction item
• The photo of Carole Bretonne and her dog Betsy was pilfered from the 26 Oct 2006 issue of Malibu Surfside News

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