Gladys 'Killem' Gillem:ONE OF the first women professional wrestlers in the US, in 18 years of professional wrestling throughout the US Gladys "Killem" Gillem, who has died aged 89, was never allowed to beat Mildred Burke. She later claimed one small victory when, aged 85, she disclosed in a film that she had slept with Burke's husband, the promoter Billy Wolfe, to get a pay rise.
Always something of a tomboy, Gillem, a talented high-school softball player in Birmingham, Alabama, was expelled from her Catholic school for putting minnows in the holy water. After her father died when she was 19, she cared for her disabled mother, but then, after seeing Burke wrestle, she asked if she could join her.
Although initially Burke and Wolfe thought she was too fat, she was trained by another of Wolfe’s stable, Wilma “Babe” Gordon, and then for nearly 20 years became one of Burke’s principal opponents.
Unfortunately she never learned to fall properly and the back of her head was said to be as soft as a cauliflower.
Her bouts with Burke were often ferocious and on one occasion, wrestling for the world title, she bit deep into Burke’s thigh, refusing to let go until Burke broke her nose. Although women could earn up to $100 a night wrestling, Wolfe kept most of it, deducting not only 50 per cent but also expenses and overheads so that Gillem and the other girls often ended up with just $3 a night.
After nearly 20 years in the ring she decided to become a lion tamer – “I pity the lions,” said Burke – working with Capt Ernest Enger’s act, which she eventually took over.
She also tried to become an equestrian, but at 5ft 2in she had difficulty in leaping on the horses and so took up the trapeze. Her career as a lion tamer ended in central America when the promoter absconded with the takings.
She and her husband, John Aloysius Wall, opened a tourist attraction in Florida where she wrestled alligators. The secret, she said, was to tickle their stomachs, something alligators apparently love. After Wall, who also worked as a stagehand, was killed in a Broadway theatre accident, she once again took to the road with her alligators.
She finally retired after injuring her back in Calgary.
Always a good cook, she then bought a run-down motel in Pensacola, Florida, naming it the Birmingham Motel, which she advertised as “welcoming lovers”.
A room cost $10 for two hours and on one occasion she chased down the street after a customer who had made off with the sheets. In 2003, she underwent heart bypass surgery, but in 2005 she was the acclaimed star of the documentary film Lipstick and Dynamite, Piss and Vinegar, about the pioneer days of women’s wrestling.
Her three children and a number of grandchildren – one of whom, Shawn McCoy, named his rock band Killem Gillem in her honour – survive her.
Gladys Gillem: born January 6th, 1920; died August 12th, 2009