Return to
Polar Blair's Den Menu PageGayle Caldwell
(1941-2009)
On April 14, 2009 the world lost a "Beauty". This one was a close friend of mine. Her performances in, and out, of Hillbillies helped make the world a brighter place. I'm glad to have known and worked with her.
Back to "Beauties of the Beverly Hillbillies" Main Page
Back to "Beverly Hillbillies" Main Page
Back to the "Gayle Caldwell" Main Page
Contact The Webmaster
played "Rebecca of Donnybrook Farm"
episode:
"The Rasslin' Clampetts" January 31, 1968
"The Great Tag-Team Match" February 7, 1968
I'm lucky enough to have known Gayle Caldwell, personally. She's one of the best friends I will ever have in this life or any other. Gayle's chosen profession is music, and she did very little in acting. I think this is a shame. Her "Rebecca" is absolutely hilarious and displays quite a bit of natural acting talent, as she is NOTHING like that in real life. The first time I saw the "Rebecca" episodes I couldn't believe it; she is just one of those wildly funny characters that's instantly engaging. You want to see more and more of her; we're given only two episodes...what a gyp!
She is absolutely hilarious as professional lady-wrestler Rebecca of
Donnybrook Farm, the dainty country girl who is pitted against the mean
and nasty Boston Strong Girl. Incidentally, the Boston Strong
Girl was played by a stuntman named Jerry Randall whose voice was
dubbed in the second Rebecca episode to sound like a woman.
As the story goes, the Clampetts are watching professional womens'
wrestling on television. Granny sees the poor Tennessee country
girl getting whooped in the ring and has Jethro drive her to the
stadium, which happens to be in the city. Of course, the
wrestling is all staged, but Granny doesn't know that. She leaps
into the ring and takes care of the Boston Strong Girl in short
order.
In the next episode, Granny gains the attention of the man who heads that wrestling circuit. He has the girl who plays Rebecca gain Granny's sympathy by talking about her "sick mama and crippled daddy" in hopes that Granny will return to the ring. It takes some doing but finally Granny, Jed, and Elly go into the ring in a tag-team match against the Boston Strong Girl and her parents. The Strong Girl's father, by the way, is played by character actor Mike Mazurki who made a career out of playing bad guys. He was tough and terrifying in the 1946 movie "Dick Tracy" as Splitface, which is a must-see for fans of classic detective movies. By the end of the show, Granny takes on all three opponents by herself, swinging the father by the ankles to knock the other two out of the ring before throwing him out as well.
There's something special about Gayle Caldwell (Rebecca) and she had
all the makings of a great comedic actress. I'm actually
surprised that she didn't do a lot more acting on television. She
did two movies prior to this, and made many TV appearances as part of
the musical duo "Jackie and Gayle". However, the only other show
where she had a role was the movie "Wild on the Beach" in 1965.
