Gena Lee Nolin

kicking back with sheena after a hard day in the jungle

If you're thinking of messing around in Gena Lee Nolin's humid jungle, you'd better be ready to rumble. The fabulous former Baywatch vixen is busy protecting Africa's wildlife on her second season as TV's Sheena. In the syndicated action series, Nolin plays the orphaned jungle queen raised by a shamaness who has taught her the mystical power of shape-shifting into animals. "I've morphed into panthers, tigers, eagles--anything with a strong spirit," she says. Gena has a lot of creative input on Sheena and retooled a recent episode in which Sheena lost her virginity. "The writer wanted me to rip open a condom package with my teeth and say something completely tacky," she tells us. "I wanted to send the safe-sex message without going to such extremes, so we showed the condom for two seconds and sealed the deal with a kiss."

Gena describes herself as a "meat-and-potatoes type of gal" from Minnesota. After her family moved to Las Vegas, Gena beat out hundreds of other applicants to be one of Barker's Beauties on The Price Is Right. "The producers called 20 minutes after my audition and said, 'Get your makeup bag, honey. You're coming on down!'" she says. After two years of showcase showdowns, Gena sunk her teeth into the role of trouble-making Neely Capshaw on Baywatch and recently reprised her role for a made-for-TV reunion movie. "Playing a bitch is fun," she says with a giggle. "If I wasn't stealing a boyfriend, I was stirring the pot." So how does the Queen of the Jungle blow off steam otherwise? "I'm a closet crocheter," she confesses. "I've crocheted afghans that could cover up a whole living room. It's a little nerdy, but that's all right. C'mon, I'm giving to the world--I'm giving a whole lot of scarves!" Battle on, Sheena.

Sheena's World

it's a jungle out there and this queen rules

Long before the warrior princess Xena, there was the jungle queen Sheena. Originally conceived by Jerry Iger and drawn by one of his top artists, Mort Meskin, the felicitously feral comic-strip heroine made her first appearance in 1937 in a European tabloid called Wags. Relying only on a knife and her wits to defend her unspoiled African turf against villains who ranged from ruthless game poachers to sadistic Nazis, the blonde Tarzan swung into the hearts and minds of American boys the following year, when she appeared in the first issue of Jumbo Comics.

By 1942 Sheena had become popular enough to have her own title, the first female comic-book character to earn that distinction. In 1954 she made the leap to TV. Her scant leopard-print costume was filled by statuesque blonde Irish McCalla, a model from Nebraska who posed for renowned pin-up artist Alberto Vargas. Airing for two seasons, the TV series was faithful to the comic strip, with Sheena frequently called on to rescue her bungling trader friend, Bob Reynolds, played by Christian Drake.

Sheena went into hibernation for almost three decades, until Columbia Pictures revived her as a starring vehicle for Tanya Roberts in the 1984 feature film Sheena. Using a zebra as her primary mode of transport, the cinematic Sheena was able to communicate telepathically with the creatures of the jungle.

Although the film adaptation of Sheena's adventures was savaged by critics, a syndicated TV series launched by Columbia TriStar in the fall of 2000 has proved that legendary jungle queens never die--they swing right back into action. In her latest incarnation, Sheena is portrayed by former Baywatch beauty Gena Lee Nolin. The new Sheena doesn't merely communicate with the animals; she has the power to transform herself into one, making her, in our minds, a real 21st century fox. Having survived a full season of adventures, as well as the ratings jungle, Sheena by Gena may prove to be the fittest queen of them all.

Gene Lee is wild at cyber.playboy.com.