Born in Pawnee City, Nebraska, she was one of eight siblings born to Lloyd, a butcher, and Nettie (née Geiger) McCalla. The family moved often, settling in Des Moines, Iowa, in late 1939, when Lloyd began working for Condon Bros. meat dealers. The family lived at 1070 10th Street. The family moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, in November 1941, and to Omaha, Nebraska in September 1942, before returning to Pawnee City, where she completed high school. At age 17, she joined some of her siblings in Southern California, where she worked as a waitress and at an aircraft factory.\n', '

In 1951, she married insurance salesman Patrick McIntyre, with whom she had two sons. McCalla was already a popular pinup model by 1952, when several other models and she appeared in the film River Goddesses, comprising voluptuous young women frolicking in Glen Canyon.\n', '

In a newspaper interview, McCalla recalled being discovered by a Nassour Studios representative while throwing a bamboo spear on a Malibu, California, beach, adding of her Sheena experience, "I couldn\'t act, but I could swing through the trees". Her 26-episode series aired in first-run syndication from 1955-56.\n', '

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