Dee Booher
{{Short description|American professional wrestler and actress (1948–2022)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dee Booher
| birth_name = Deanna White
| image = Deanna Booher WOW.jpg
| caption = Deanna Booher at the WOW red carpet event in 2016
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1948|8|6}}
| birth_place = Torrance, California, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|01|07|1948|8|6}}
| death_place =
| occupation = actress, professional wrestler
| spouse = Ken Booher
| children = 1
{{Infobox professional wrestler|child=yes
| names = Matilda the Hun
Queen Adrena
Queen Kong
| height = 6 ft 3 in
| weight = 315 lbs
| billed = Germany (as Matilda the Hun){{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
| trainer = Mando Guerrero{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
| debut = December 5, 1985 [https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=6061&page=4&year=1985&promotion=228]
| retired = 1996
}}
}}
Deanna Booher (August 6, 1948 – January 7, 2022) was an American actress, professional wrestler, and roller derby skater. She is known for her appearances with Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling as Matilda the Hun, as well as her appearances in films such as Brainsmasher... A Love Story and Spaceballs.
Early life
Booher grew up in Lake Arrowhead, California. 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 in California, helping the team win a state championship.
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 {{convert|700|lb|adj=on|abbr=on}} bear.
Booher later teamed with GLOW creator David McLane and director Matt Cimber 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
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 that incorporated aspects of wrestling.
Booher had several film roles in her career, including in the Mel Brooks comedy Spaceballs. She was in the romantic comedy Brainsmasher... A Love Story alongside Andrew "Dice" Clay and Teri Hatcher. She also appeared in the music video for Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator", carrying a dwarf on her shoulders.
She also had guest-starring roles in television, including Married... with Children, My Two Dads, Mama's Family and Night Court. She often portrayed her Queen Kong character in these roles.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
Personal life and death
Booher was married to her husband Ken Booher for 39 years before he died. She had one son, Dean Booher.{{Cite web |title=Ken Booher Obituary (2007) Daily Breeze |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailybreeze/name/ken-booher-obituary?id=24955942 |access-date=2022-07-14 |website=Legacy.com}}
By 2017, Booher used a motorized wheelchair because of wrestling-related spinal deterioration. In her later life, she had lupus and peripheral neuropathy. She died on January 7, 2022, at the age of 73.
Tributes
In July 2024, a stage show in tribute of Booher was co-written, co-directed and co-starred by Tracee Meltzer and Robert Nguyen called Matilda the Hun: The Raw Meat at the Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood.{{Cite web |title=Matilda The Hun ..The Raw Meat in Los Angeles at Zephyr theatre 2024 |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/regional/Matilda-The-Hun---The-Raw-Meat-4179155 |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}} The show was nominated in 10 different categories for BroadwayWorld Awards and resulted in 3 wins for David Navarro for Best Music Direction & Orchestra Performance, Best Scenic Design of a Play or Musical and Best Sound Design of a Play or Musical.{{Cite web |last=Awards |first=B. W. W. |title=Winners Announced For The 2024 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Winners-Announced-For-The-2024-BroadwayWorld-Los-Angeles-Awards-20250107 |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Film roles |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1984
| Delta Pi | Tawny "Terrible Tawny" | |
| 1985
| Grunt! The Wrestling Movie | Female Wrestler | |
| 1986
| Tough Broad | |
| 1987
| Bearded Lady | |
| 1987
| Edna "Big Eddie" | |
| 1987
| Gorgo, Amazon Champion Wrestler | |
| 1987
| Dirty Laundry | Big Lady With Whip | |
| 1987
| Crazy Legs | Louise | |
| 1989
| Cage | Gang Girl | |
| 1989
| Slash Dance | "Repo" | |
| 1990
| Club Fed | The Ex-Wife | |
| 1992
| Large Nurse | |
| 1993
| Brainsmasher... A Love Story | Bertha | |
| 1993
| Sarge | |
| 1994
| Save Me | Nude Model | |
| 1995
| Meanest Woman Truck Driver | |
| 1997
| Lady Party Guest | |
| 1998
| Heaven and the Suicide King | Shirley | |
| 2015
| The Dog Wedding | Elaine Pierce | |
| | Femme d'Action
| Invader Manager | Television movie |
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Television roles |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1985
| Woman Wrestler (uncredited) | Episode: "Strangle Hold" |
| 1987
| Masked Mabel #1 | Episode: "Mama Mania" |
| 1987
| rowspan="2"| Night Court | Maggie | Episode: "Ladies Night" |
| 1989
| Nadine | Episode: "The Game Show" |
| 1989
| Amen | Ilona | Episode: "Sing, Sister, Sing" |
| 1989
| Mrs. Lurch | Episode: "Joey Gets Pinned" |
| 1990
| Dream On | Olga | Episode: "Death Takes a Coffee Break" |
| 1990
| Wife (uncredited) | Episode: "Homey D. Clown Returns" |
| 1991
| Maxine | Episode: "A Walk on the Dark Side" |
| 1995
| Biker Chick | Episode: "The Weaker Sex" |
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Music video roles |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1989
| Wrestler | Single by Aerosmith |
Bibliography
- Glamazon Queen Kong: My Life of Glitter, Guts, and Glory (2014)
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite news |last=Alimurung |first=Gendy |title=This '80s female wrestling league was dangerous and sexist — and the best job of their lives |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 20, 2017 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/this-80s-female-wrestling-league-was-dangerous-and-sexist--and-the-best-job-of-their-lives/2017/06/19/4ed73c02-4220-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html |access-date=July 12, 2018}}
{{cite news |last=Godfrey |first=Alex |title=The Woman Who Wrestled Bears |publisher=Vice |date=January 22, 2013 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/deanna-boher-invented-phone-sex-and-dominated-female-wrestling/ |access-date=July 12, 2018}}
{{cite news |last=Larson |first=Sarah |title=Before the Netflix Series, Whet Your Whistle with "GLOW," the Documentary |newspaper=The New Yorker |date=June 20, 2017 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/before-the-netflix-series-whet-your-whistle-with-glow-the-documentary |access-date=July 12, 2018}}
{{cite web |author= WWE.com staff |title= Matilda the Hun passes away |work=WWE.com |publisher=WWE |date=January 9, 2022 |url=https://www.wwe.com/article/matilda-the-hun-passes-away |access-date=January 10, 2022}}
}}
External links
- {{official website|www.queenkong.com}}
- [https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/8680 Papers of Deanna Booher, 1970-2017: A Finding Aid.] [https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
- {{IMDb name|nm0095338|Dee Booher}}
- {{professional wrestling profiles}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booher, Dee}}
Category:20th-century female professional wrestlers
Category:20th-century American professional wrestlers
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American female professional wrestlers
Category:Faux German professional wrestlers
Category:Actresses from Torrance, California
Category:Martial artists from Torrance, California