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8 Actresses Who've Played Calamity Jane - Crack Shot, Sex Symbol and Queer Icon?

8 Actresses Who've Played Calamity Jane - Crack Shot, Sex Symbol and Queer Icon?

Earlier this week Ms. mag paid homage to Martha Jane Cannary Burke -- best known as Calamity Jane -- in honor of the famous frontierswoman’s 161st birthday (May 1st). That got us thinking about all of the actresses who’ve donned a holster, a fringed jacket, trousers and a hat to play crack shot Calamity Jane, long-time friend to Wild Bill Hickok. There's no other way to put it. A lot of really sexy actresses have played Calamity! From Deadwood’s Robin Weigert’s boozing, foul-mouthed brawler to Doris Day’s famously queer portrayal of her, here are all of the Calamity Jane’s we could think up.

TracyEGilchrist

Catherine O'Hara (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, Six Feet Under) in Disney's Tall Tale (1995)

Doris Day in Calamity Jane (1953)

It would be remiss to feature Doris Day without mentioning her famously queer song "Secret Love" from the Calamity Jane film. The film came out during the Hollywood code when homosexuality, lesbian and the like were dirty words. Lesbians clung to Doris' performance as Calamity pining for her secret love, as cited in The Celluloid Closet.

How hot is Ellen Barkin as Calamity in 1995's Wild Bill?

Angelica Huston donned fringe chaps with a whip to play Calamity in the 1995 made-for-TV movie Buffalo Girls.

Jane Russell's portrayed a decidely more femme Calamity in 1948's The Paleface with Bob Hope.

Jane Alexander stepped into Calamity's riding boots for the 1984 made-for-TV movie Calamity Jane. She looks fantastic, but the saddle would look better on a horse!

Um, how hot was The Munsters' Yvonne de Carlo in 1949's Calamity Jane and Sam Bass? Wow!

HBO's Deadwood starred Robin Weigert as a brazen brawler of a Calamity Jane. And, she even had a little lesbian tryst during the show's two-season run.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.