Kitty O’Neil was an American stuntwoman and racer who was titled “the world’s fastest woman.” An illness in early childhood left her deaf, and more illnesses in early adulthood cut short a career in competitive diving. O’Neil’s subsequent career as a stuntwoman and race driver resulted in her portrayal in a television film and as an action figure. Her women’s absolute land speed record remained in place until 2019. Let’s check out Kitty O’Neil’s Wiki, Age, Height, Career, Family, Husband, Death, Tribute, Biography & More.
Kitty O’Neil Wiki/Bio:
| Real Name: | Kitty Linn O’Neil |
| Nick Name: | Kitty O’Neil |
| Date of Birth: | 24 March 1946 |
| Zodiac Sign: | Aries |
| Birthplace: | Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality: | American |
| Religion: | Christianity |
| Profession: | Stuntwoman, Race car driver |
| Death Date: | 02 November 2018 |
| Death Place: | Eureka, South Dakota, U.S. |
Kitty O’Neil Age, Height, Weight:
| Age: | 72 Years (At the time of Death) |
| Height: | 5Ft 2in |
| Weight: | 44 Kg |
Kitty O’Neil Career:
Kitty was a competitive 10-meter platform diver and 3-meter springboard diver as a teenager, winning Amateur Athletic Union diving championships. She began training with diving coach Sammy Lee in 1962.
By 1970, O’Neil had taken up water and land racing, competing in the Baja 500 and the Mint 400. She met stuntmen Hal Needham and Ron Hambleton while racing motorcycles, and she lived with Hambleton for a while, giving up racing. She began stunt work in the mid-1970s, training with Needham, Hambleton, and Dar Robinson. She was the first woman to perform with Stunts Unlimited, the leading stunt agency, in 1976. She worked as a stuntwoman in films such as The Bionic Woman, Airport ’77, The Blues Brothers, Smokey and the Bandit II, and others. Mattel produced a Kitty O’Neil action figure based on her stunt career in 1978.
O’Neil was hired to perform a difficult stunt for Jeannie Epper, Lynda Carter’s usual stunt double, during a 1979 episode of Wonder Woman. She set a women’s high-fall record of 127 feet (39 m) in the process at the 12-story Valley Hilton in Sherman Oaks, California. She attributed her ability to withstand impact forces to her small size (5′-2″ and 97 pounds (44 kg). She later broke her own record by falling from a helicopter 180 feet (55 meters). O’Neil set a women’s speed on water record of 275 miles per hour (443 km/h) in 1977, and she held a women’s water skiing record of 104.85 miles per hour (168.74 km/h) in 1970.
O’Neil set the land-speed record for female drivers on December 6, 1976, in southeastern Oregon’s Alvord Desert. She drove the “SMI Motivator,” a three-wheeled hydrogen peroxide rocket car built by Bill Fredrick for $350,000. It averaged 512.710 mph (825.127 km/h) and reached a top speed of 621 miles per hour (999 km/h).
O’Neil’s runs reportedly used 60% of the available thrust, and she estimated that at full power, she could have exceeded 700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h).
O’Neil piloted a hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket dragster built by Ky Michaelson in the Mojave Desert in 1977, reaching an average speed of 279.5 mph (449.8 km/h). The run is not recognised as an official drag racing record because it was not repeated in accordance with NHRA rules.
O’Neil’s experiences inspired the biographical film Silent Victory: The Kitty O’Neil Story, starring Stockard Channing, in 1979. O’Neil stated that roughly half of the film was accurate.
After stunt colleagues were killed while performing, O’Neil retired from stunt and speed work in 1982. She moved to Minneapolis with Michaelson and later with Raymond Wald to Eureka, South Dakota. O’Neil retired with 22 land and water speed records under her belt.
Kitty O’Neil Family:
Kitty Linn O’Neil was born on March 24, 1946 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Her father, John O’Neil, was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces and an oil wildcatter. During Kitty’s childhood, he died in an aeroplane crash. Her mother, Patsy Compton O’Neil, was native Cherokee.
Kitty O’Neil Husband:
| Thomas Allen Justice – (divorced) | |
| Duffy Hambleton – (divorced) | |
| John D. Piazza (15 April 1967 – January 1968) – (divorced) |
Kitty O’Neil Death:
She died of pneumonia on November 2, 2018, at the age of 72, in Eureka, South Dakota. She was honoured with the Oscars in Memoriam award in 2019.
Kitty O’Neil Tribute:
Google celebrated Kitty O’Neil’s 77th birthday with a doodle on March 24, 2023.
