Kitty O'Neil - No Fear — Disability Throughout History

I am someone who self-describes as "risk-averse." Today's post is about a woman who is absolutely the opposite of that. Kitty O'Neil, raised by her widowed Cherokee mother and deafened as a baby, was a highly ambitious and extremely talented athlete, driver, and stuntwoman. She achieved over twenty world records in spite of ableism, racism, and sexism. Kitty was adored by all who knew her. Many commented on her warm, sunny demeanor and admired all that she had accomplished. Kitty was, for lack of a more philosophical assessment, simply incredible.

Kitty Lynn O'Neil was born on March 24, 1946 in Corpus Christi, Texas, to John and Patsy (née Compton) O'Neil. She was born about a week after the local German prisoner of war camp was dismantled, sending the prisoners to England to work as agricultural laborers. John was a United States Army Air Force officer stationed at the air base there and had previously been an oil wildcatter. (This means he drilled "wildcat wells": exploratory oil wells in areas not known to be oil fields.) While John was of Irish descent, Patsy was native Cherokee. This tribe originally lived in the southeastern United States (possibly after originating in either the Great Lakes or Appalachian regions) but was forcibly removed to the Oklahoma area in the 1830s. This was known as the Trail of Tears, when 60,000 Cherokee and other indigenous people were displaced west, killing up to 15,000 along the way. Today, it is the largest tribe in the United States with more than 430,000 citizens worldwide. 141,000 still reside within the tribe's reservation in northeastern Oklahoma.

When Kitty was five months old, she contracted some amount of childhood diseases simultaneously. Records vary as to what these were: measles, smallpox, mumps, and/or chickenpox. Smallpox is unlikely and measles and/or mumps are probable. She said that her "mother packed her in ice to save [her] life." Her sicknesses caused her to lose her hearing, though her deafness was not noticeable until the age of two. While this may seem strange, it is common to miss hearing loss if not knowing what to look for. The most important sign is delayed or absent speech development. Because hearing loss is a spectrum, many babies and toddlers are able to detect some kind of sound, such as a loud noise, and may compensate with vision and gestures to navigate their world. This can cause caregivers to not be aware of any hearing impairment. I was a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) for children ages birth-3 years old for four years, so this is a situation I am very familiar with. Since 1993 we have had universal newborn hearing screenings and regular checkups with pediatricians in an effort to catch hearing loss earlier. Even with these in place, some children with hearing loss, especially unilateral and/or mild, can still be missed.

During Kitty's childhood in the 1940s, even in a city of nearly 100,000, none of these protocols were in place. Once her deafness was identified, her mother, Patsy, took action. She went back to school at the University of Texas to learn how to teach students with hearing impairments and began home-schooling. She refused to teach her daughter American Sign Language (ASL), wanting Kitty to have "a life as normal as possible." She instead taught her verbal speech by placing Kitty's hand on her neck while speaking. She also taught her to lip-read. By third grade, Kitty was able to attend public school. In a later interview, the reporter commented that, "The words are a little hard to understand. But not the smile." Another reported said, "Kitty's speech today is guttural and accented, but understandable."

A note about Patsy's decision to refuse ASL for her daughter: as those who are familiar with Deaf history and/or my post on Deaf lawyer Roger O'Kelly may know, this was a time in which Deaf education rejected ASL and only focused on oralism. In America, this educational movement began in the 1860s and persisted through the mid-20th century. ASL, begun by teachers working with Alice Cogswell (another previous blog subject) in the early 1800s, survived because the Deaf community kept it alive outside of the classroom. The official retraction of laws forbidding the use of sign language in classrooms was not until 2010 by the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (they were the ones who had banned sign language at their 1880 meeting, which had no Deaf members testifying). The Deaf community views this time of oralism as "the dark ages for deaf education in America."

It is no surprise, then, that Patsy taught Kitty to orally speak. She was a mother, first and foremost, who was doing what she thought was best for her daughter with the information she had at the time. Dr. Rezenet Moges-Riedel, Assistant Professor of American Sign Language and Deaf Culture at California State University Long Beach, shared in an interview that people who used ASL at that time were seen as "savage." Her parents were not "well-informed" about how ASL could truly open up communication for their daughter, but Moges-Riedel admitted that Kitty was probably able to hold a job because of her ability to speak. She posited that perhaps the Deaf signing community has not given Kitty as much credit, since she did not share so much of their experiences. Moges-Riedel called her an "unsung hero of her time," as she learned to communicate and access jobs the best way she could without the privilege of ASL.

Kitty's first memory was when she was four years old: "I was sitting on my father's lap while he was mowing the lawn. I couldn't hear the engine under us, but I could feel the vibrations. I loved those vibrations." The vibrations were a way of "cutting through the bubble of soundlessness." Even as an adult, if she was feeling bored, she would vacuum, getting a "serene look on her face." She later learned to play piano and cello and dance by vibrations too: "I can feel the highs and lows. And I can dance the same way. Disco. But I don't go out much."

Patsy eventually became an SLP (like me) and later co-founded a school for children with hearing impairment, The Listening Eyes School for the Deaf, in Wichita Falls, Texas. It appears that Patsy and Kitty moved there sometime in the 1950s, after John died in an airplane crash. Kitty learned to swim in elementary school and played football with the neighborhood boys. The two moved in 1962 to Anaheim, California, where Kitty completed high school, for Kitty's diving training.

Like her parents, Kitty was incredibly high-achieving. She was tiny (5'2" and 97 pounds) and athletic. In a 1977 interview, Kitty said, "My mother pushed me to read lips but she didn't push me in sports - I did that myself. Because I was deaf, I had a very positive mental attitude. You have to show people you can do anything." A couple years later, she said she would not trade her deafness: "I like my deafness. It's a challenge. I'm not afraid of it... I know I'm deaf. But I'm still normal. The way I look at it, being handicapped is not a defect. People say I can't do anything. I say to people I can do anything I want." Throughout her career, she credited her deafness as helping her maintain total concentration during her competitions, races, and stunts.

As a teen, she became a competitive 10-meter platform diver and 3-meter springboard diver. She even won the Amateur Athletic Union diving championships. At the age of sixteen, in 1962, she began training with diving coach Sammy Lee, who, in 1948, became the first Asian American man to win an Olympic gold medal for the US. He said that she snapped up trophies "like hungry fish" (she won 86 first-place medals and trophies!). She achieved twelfth in the trials for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but then suffered a major health scare: she broke her wrist and contracted spinal meningitis. This life-threatening disease threatened her ability to walk and ended her Olympic bid. The doctors warned her she may never walk again but she was back on her feet two weeks later. She turned to swimming, competing in the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle swimming at the 1965 Summer Deaflympics. This event was hosted in Washington, D.C., the first Deaflympics to be hosted outside of Europe since its inception in 1924.

By the time she had fully recovered from meningitis, Kitty had lost interest in diving: "I had to start all over again, and I got bored. I wanted to do something fast." It "wasn't scary enough for [her]" anymore. She took up water skiing, scuba diving, skydiving, and hang gliding. She raced boats, dune buggies, and motorcycles. By 1970, she was racing on water and land, participating in the Baja 500 and Mint 400. Because she could not hear the 10-second countdowns at the start of races, an assistant would use hand signals for her.

Kitty's headshot, 1977

While racing motorcycles, she met stuntmen Hal Needham (who later became a director) and Ron "Duffy" Hambleton. Hambleton later remembered, "She hit a bad spot in the terrain, and I tried to help her. She thought I was trying to pass her. Then she hit a rut and the cycle crashed. When she got up, she took off her gloves and found parts of two of her fingers inside." Doctors sewed them back on, but Kitty never regained the use of those fingers.

The incident did have one positive outcome, as it began her romantic relationship with Hambleton, a former bank vice president turned stuntman. They lived together for several years (many articles called her his wife, but this was not true) at Hambleton's 40-acre ranch in Fillmore, California. He also had two children from a previous marriage, Debra and Darryl, that Kitty took part in raising while taking care of the home. She loved running miles each day through the orange groves. Amidst all of this, she also underwent two surgeries for cancer before her 28th birthday. Though she loved her family, she missed racing and taking risks.

In the mid-1970s, she became a stuntwoman, training for two years with Needham, Hambleton, and Dar Robinson. In 1976, when she was thirty years old, she became the first woman to perform with the leading stunt agency, Stunts Unlimited. At this time, the exclusive agency had only 37 members. Kitty referred to her colleagues there as her "brothers." The secretary, Andre Williams, said of her, "They all love her. They communicate with her in their own way. They make up hand signals. They think she's as brave as anyone. Although they didn't at first."

*Bill Frederick, Kitty, & Hambleton, 1977*

The late 1970s and early 1980s were busy for Kitty. Her Hollywood career included many television shows and movies, including: The Bionic Woman, Airport '77, The Blues Brothers, Smokey and the Bandit II, Damien: Omen II, 9/30/55, and Wonder Woman. It was during a 1979 episode of Wonder Woman that Kitty set a women's high-fall record of 127 feet, a stunt of high difficulty for Lynda Carter's usual stunt double, Jeannie Epper. Helped by her diving training, she dove headfirst from the 12-story Valley Hilton in Sherman Oaks, California and onto an inflatable air bag on the hotel's pool deck. She commented that, from that height, the 60 foot by 80 foot bag looked like a postage stamp. At the time, she said, "If I hadn't hit the center of the bag, I probably would have been killed." She broke her own record with a 180-foot fall from a helicopter onto an airbag the very next year.

*Kitty setting a high-fall record for a "Wonder Woman" stunt, 1979*

*Kitty performing the high-fall stunt, 1979*

*Kitty getting ready to perform a high-fall stunt from a helicopter, 1980*

*Kitty performing the high-fall stunt from a helicopter, 1980*

She also was the first woman to successfully complete a "cannon-fired" car roll (an explosive charge under the vehicle propels it up and tumbles over and over) in 1977. That same year, she set a record for both the longest and highest fall attempted by a woman on fire, achieving 112 feet. She described being set on fire for a later interview: she was wrapped in a Nomex suit, given a 3-minute tube of oxygen, spread with glue, and lit with a torch; after a couple minutes, men threw to her to the ground and put out the fire. She was reportedly "burned in [her] eyes and [her] nose and [her] eyebrows and the back of [her] head."

Kitty later reported, "I'm not afraid of anything. Just do it. It's good when you finish, [you know] you made it." Monitoring devices attached to her to measure her heart and breathing rates always remained steady during stunts and racing. She said that her favorite stunts were rolling cars, saying that she rolled her first one, her mother's car, when was sixteen. As an adult, she received many speeding tickets. In 1978, her stunt career inspired her own action figure made by Mattel. Though she did not make much money in her jobs, she said, "I'm not in it for the money."

Kitty set several more records in her career. In 1970, she had set a women's water skiing record of 104.85 miles per hour. Seven years later, she set a women's record for speed on water of 275 miles per hour in a jet-powered boat called "Captain Crazy." She refused to race on water anymore after that, stating she felt like she was driving on ice and that she couldn't control the vehicle well.

She completed the fastest quarter mile in a rocket dragster at 3.22 seconds. Kitty also was the only woman who qualified for international motorcycle competition when the Fédération Internationale Motorcycliste granted her a professional license.

On December 6, 1976, in the Alvord Desert, she set the land-speed record for female drivers in a $350,000 ($1.8 million in 2023) hydrogen peroxide powered three-wheeled rocket car called the SMI Motivator, built by Bill Frederick, a former meat market chain owner who devoted himself to high-speed cars after going bankrupt. She was required to make two passes across a measured course: one out and one back. She reached an average speed of 512.71 mph with a peak speed of 621 mph. She was determined to beat the men's record (set in 1970) of 627.287 mph average speed. To give context, the average passenger airplane cruising speed is around 575 mph. Kitty reportedly only used 60% of the available thrust and estimated she could have exceed 700 mph with full power. She thought she could even break the sonic barrier (~770 mph). She called her time doing the runs "a beautiful experience."

She had already reached an unofficial average speed of 618 mph when she was ordered to stop. A Republican Senator in Oregon had already opposed the attempt, saying that the "motorized antics might harm unique natural life," though this concern was unfounded. Several nature clubs protested and one even filed an objection with the Land Appeals Board in Washington.

Even with this cleared up, there were still issues. Kitty was restrained by her contact, obtained by Hambleton, and struggled getting sponsors. She was required by contract to only break the women's land-speed record, allowing Hal Needham to set the overall record. Her contract demanded that she not exceed even 400 mph. He had paid $25,000 for a chance to set the record. Needham's sponsor, the toy company Marvin Glass and Associates, was creating a Needham action figure and obtained an injunction to stop Kitty from making further runs. One spokesman allegedly said (though the company denied this happened), that it is "unbecoming and degrading for a woman to set a land speed record." Another newspaper reported, "The company felt that Needham was a remarkable commodity, but it would be difficult to market Kitty. Kitty is deaf." She was livid and left the area in tears, saying she had never encountered such discrimination before. Hambleton said, "Now she is beginning to think women have been held back all along but she didn't realize it." Kitty also commented that, "I’m a liberated woman, but I’m not trying to compete against men. I’m just trying to do my own thing."

*Bill Frederick, Kitty, & Hal Needham, 1976*

After all this, Needham did not set the record or even drive the car. Kitty and Hambleton legally attempted to allow her another try before the snows set in for the season, but it failed. The sponsors did receive backlash for removing Kitty from the car and the Needham action figures were not marketed. Needham himself received phone calls accusing him of being a "male chauvinist pig." Kitty always regretted not getting the opportunity to beat the overall record.

Her land-speed record (female) stood for over forty years until 2019 (nine months after Kitty's death), when Jessi Combs of Mythbusters fame, the first to even attempt to beat it, reached 522.783 mph. This was, sadly, a posthumous award, as Combs was killed in the attempt. The two women had met previously in 2015, with Kitty saying, "I'm proud of her. I'm happy for her. I hope she does it again. If she breaks the record, then I’ll do it again. It’s a challenge."

The following year, in the Mojave Desert, she piloted a hydrogen peroxide powered rocket dragster, built by Ky "Rocketman" Michaelson, with an average speed of 279.5 mph. Unfortunately, the run was not repeated according to the National Hot Rod Association's rules, so it is not recognized as an official drag racing record. Michaelson later commented that Kitty "scared the heck out of me. I never met a human being that had no fear." He called her "a true wonder woman."

Her closest call with death came in 1978, when she was working on a TV special called "Super Stunt 2." Kitty was driving a rocket-powered Corvette funny car. The narrator, Rock Hudson, and the national TV audience watched in horror as she crashed the car at over 300 mph and tumbled about 250 feet. Amazingly, she was unharmed, other than a sore shoulder, and was already up and walking away from the wreckage when the crew got to her. She grinned from ear to ear, saying how much fun it was. Michaelson currently has the old video from this stunt special available on his Youtube channel.

Kitty's life was finally transformed, in 1979, into its own biographical TV movie, Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story, starring Stockard Channing. Kitty reported that about half of the movie was accurate. The movie was nominated for three awards: two Primetime Emmys and one from the American Cinema Editors. It's currently available for free on Youtube.

That same year, she received the Volta Award of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf "in recognition of overcoming her handicap and for her efforts in aiding the deaf." Around this time, she separated from Hambleton and moved in with her friend and companion, Marie Payne. Marie traveled with Kitty, translating for her when people didn't speak slowly enough for her to read their lips.

When asked about her future plans in a 1980 interview, Kitty thought she would do stunt work for another few years, then retire and found two schools: an athletic training school for people with disabilities and another called "One World Communication." She wanted to "make the world of the deaf meet at the middle." She was determined to succeed, saying, "Concentration is everything. There are two books I live my life on: The Bible and 'The Power of Positive Thinking.' With those, you can do anything." She also once told the Holy Trinity School for the Deaf that, "Deaf people can do anything. Never give up. When I was 18, I was told I couldn't get a job because I was deaf. But I said someday I'm going to be famous in sports, to show them I can do anything."

Life took a dark turn in 1982: after watching two stunt colleagues killed while performing, Kitty gave up all stunt and speed work. She was burned out, mentally and physically. At the time of her retirement at the age of 36, she had set 22 land and water speed records. She moved to Elk River, Minnesota with her good friend, Ky Michelson. It was there, in 1989, that she met her beloved Raymond Wald. In 1993, she moved to Eureka, South Dakota, where he grew up, with him. Of her decision to leave Hollywood for a tiny town of less than 1000 people, Kitty said, "I got tired of living in L.A. I don't like the big city, too many people. So I moved here and fell in love with it. The people are so friendly. They are very family-oriented. I like that."

Kitty devoted some time to the American Cancer Society, promoting awareness of breast cancer (which she had not had) and encouraging mammograms for early detection. Overall, she was very private, enjoying the quiet that the small town offered. A friend, Mack Higgins, also a former racer, would bring over things to sign. Upon her death, he reported, “She’d get frustrated with me because she was so private. The last time I took stuff over to her to sign, there were three postcards that were old jet cars from the ‘40s and ‘50s. So I had these three postcards. It was my birthday. I had it gathered up and forgot them. They’re still sitting on my fridge. Those are going to haunt me.”

She and Raymond were together until his death in 2009. Kitty remained in Eureka, even though she had spent most of her life in the warmth. She said that she loved being in the cold and enjoying a hot cup of coffee. Kitty kept up watching sports, reading the coaches' lips on the television. She also kept a beloved pet bird named Ivy. Kitty died of pneumonia, following a heart attack, on November 2, 2018 at the age of 72. She received the Oscars in Memoriam award the following year (#84 on this IMDb list). Many of her memorabilia is housed at the Eureka Pioneer Museum.

*Kitty at the Eureka Pioneer Museum, 2005*

When asked if she was ever scared, Kitty answered, "Scared? What for? I love danger. I have a deep faith in God. Danger demands using everything you've got to overcome it. That is attractive."

Most sincerely,

Christina

Further Media of Interest

Videos

Books

The Fastest Girl on Earth! Meet Kitty O'Neil, Daredevil Driver! by Dean Robbins (for ages 4-8)
Kitty O'Neil: Daredevil Woman by Karin Ireland
Unstoppable: The Kitty O'Neil Story by Doug Ford (book trailer is on Vimeo)

Works Consulted

Al-Mohamed, D. (2020, December 4). Kitty O’Neil: Fastest woman in the world. American Masters. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/blog/kitty-oneil-fastest-woman-in-the-world/

Barnes, M. (2018a, November 5). First female member of Stunts Unlimited Kitty O’Neil Dies at 72. Stunts Unlimited. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://stuntsunlimited.com/su-member-kitty-oneil/?v=f24485ae434a

Barnes, M. (2018b, November 5). Kitty O’Neil, Famed Hollywood Stuntwoman and Daredevil, Dies at 72. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/kitty-oneil-dead-hollywood-stuntwoman-daredevil-was-72-1158193/

Cobb, M. (1977, May 18). The Day Kitty O’Neil Couldn’t Break the Record. Lakeland Ledger.

Delaney, N. C. (2013, May). Corpus Christi’s “University of the Air.” U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2013/may/corpus-christis-university-air

Fastest land speed record (female). (2019, August 27). Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-land-speed-record-(female)/

Hendrickson, P. (1979, May 5). The Daredevil. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/05/05/the-daredevil/89b14982-3b62-4eac-bb02-d0a634521b5f/

History.com Editors. (2018, August 21). Deaf stuntwoman Kitty O’Neil sets women’s land-speed record. HISTORY. https://web.archive.org/web/20181106053410/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/deaf-stuntwoman-kitty-oneil-sets-womens-land-speed-record

Hutchinson, P. (2018, November 7). Kitty O’Neil: the incredible story of the fastest woman in the world. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/07/kitty-oneil-fastest-woman-in-the-world-obituary

Jares, S. E. (1977, January 24). The Renaissance Woman of Danger—That’s Tiny Kitty O’Neil. People. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://people.com/archive/the-renaissance-woman-of-danger-thats-tiny-kitty-oneil-vol-7-no-3/

Kelda J.L. Pharris, Aberdeen News. (2018, November 6). Eureka’s Kitty O’Neil, a daredevil in Hollywood and real life, dies at 72. Aberdeen News. https://eu.aberdeennews.com/story/entertainment/2018/11/06/eurekas-kitty-oneil-a-daredevil-in-hollywood-and-real-life-dies-at-72/44883899/

Kelly, K. (2020, October 4). Kitty O’Neil (1947-2018), Stuntwoman. America Comes Alive. https://americacomesalive.com/kitty-oneil-stuntwoman/

Kitty O’Neil. (2012). Land Speed Racing History. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.gregwapling.com/hotrod/land-speed-racing-history/land-speed-racing-kitty-oneil.html

Obituaries, T. (2018, November 15). Kitty O’Neil, racing driver and record-breaking stuntwoman who inspired a biopic and once jumped 180 feet from a helicopter without a parachute – obituary. The Telegraph. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/11/15/kitty-oneil-racing-driver-record-breaking-stuntwoman-inspired/

Peek, J. (2018, December 6). 42 years ago today, Kitty O’Neil proved to be one fast cat. Hagerty Media. https://www.hagerty.com/media/people/42-years-ago-kitty-oneil-proved-to-be-fast/

Phinizy, C. (1977, January 17). A ROCKET RIDE TO GLORY AND GLOOM. Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://vault.si.com/vault/1977/01/17/a-rocket-ride-to-glory-and-gloom

Sandomir, R. (2018, November 6). Kitty O’Neil, Stuntwoman and Speed Racer, Is Dead at 72. The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/obituaries/kitty-oneil-dead.html

Shaw, C. (2021, August 6). American Masters: Stunt Legend Kitty O’Neil. Stunts Unlimited. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://stuntsunlimited.com/american-masters-kitty-oneil/?v=f24485ae434a

Smith, H. (2018, November 4). Kitty O’Neil, deaf daredevil who became “world’s fastest woman,” dies at 72. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/kitty-oneil-deaf-daredevil-who-became-worlds-fastest-woman-dies-at-72/2018/11/04/5d88dc9c-e044-11e8-8f5f-a55347f48762_story.html

Last Updated: 24 Sept. 2023

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