Deanna Booher (August 6, 1948 – January 7, 2022) was an American actress,
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...
Lake Arrowhead, California
Lake Arrowhead is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest, and surrounding the eponymous Lake Arrowhe ...
. Prior to becoming involved in wrestling, she held jobs including as a masseuse and as a phone sex operator. She wrestled at
El Camino Junior College
El Camino College (Elco or ECC) is a two-year public community college located in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County known as Alondra Park.
Professional wrestling career
Booher made her first foray into professional wrestling by organizing amateur mud wrestling shows, performing as a masked character named "Queen Kong". After California's gaming commission barred her from wrestling men, her first professional match was against a bear.
Booher later teamed with GLOW creator
David McLane
David B. McLane is an American businessman, known primarily as a wrestling promoter and television producer. He was the creator of the GLOW- Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and WOW-Women Of Wrestling (recognized as WOW! and WOW), both nationally ...
and director
Matt Cimber
Matt Cimber (born Thomas Vitale Ottaviano; 1936) is an American producer, director, writer, and occasional actor in films, television, and theatre. He is known for directing genre films including '' The Candy Tangerine Man, The Witch Who Ca ...
to cast, recruit and train performers for the first all-women's professional wrestling show. She also wrote the show's theme song. Booher portrayed Matilda the Hun in GLOW. Her villainous character ate raw meat in the ring and scared children in the crowd, which Booher said she enjoyed.
After two years with GLOW, Booher and others left to form a competing show called Powerful Women of Wrestling, but it was unsuccessful.
Booher said she learned her signature move, a big splash, from watching English professional wrestler Big Daddy.
In 2012, Booher appeared in a documentary about GLOW, titled '' GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling''.
Acting career
After Booher's professional wrestling career, she earned a living doing stunt work as well as by performing
singing telegrams
A singing telegram is a message that is delivered by an artist in a musical form. Singing telegrams are historically linked to normal telegrams, but tend to be humorous. Sometimes the artist is in costume or formal clothing.
Western Union, the A ...
that incorporated aspects of wrestling.
Booher had several film roles in her career, including in the
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Lois Lane on the television series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–1997); Paris Carver in the ''James Bond'' film '' Tom ...
. She also appeared in the music video for Aerosmith's "
Love in an Elevator
"Love in an Elevator" is a song performed by American Rock music, rock band Aerosmith, written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry. It was released in August 1989 as the lead Single (music), single from their third album with Geff ...
", carrying a dwarf on her shoulders.
She also had guest-starring roles in television, including '' Married... with Children'', ''
My Two Dads
''My Two Dads'' is an American sitcom television series that was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with Tri-Star Television (later Columbia Pictures Television) and distributed by TeleVentures. It starred Paul Reiser, Greg ...
'', ''
Mama's Family
''Mama's Family'' is an American sitcom television series starring Vicki Lawrence as Mama (Thelma Harper). The series is a spin-off of a recurring series of comedy sketches called " The Family" featured on ''The Carol Burnett Show'' (1967–78 ...
'' and ''
Night Court
''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan municipal court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portray ...
''. She often portrayed her Queen Kong character in these roles.
Personal life and death
Booher was married to her husband Ken Booher for 39 years before he died. She had one son, Dean Booher.
By 2017, Booher used a motorized wheelchair because of wrestling-related spinal deterioration. In her later life, she had lupus and
peripheral neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy, often shortened to neuropathy, is a general term describing disease affecting the peripheral nerves, meaning nerves beyond the brain and spinal cord. Damage to peripheral nerves may impair sensation, movement, gland, or or ...
. She died on January 7, 2022, at the age of 73.
Filmography
Bibliography
* ''Glamazon Queen Kong: My Life of Glitter, Guts, and Glory'' (2014)