Long before Katie O’Neil was a legendary stunt artist and daredevil, she had to contend with losing her hearing as a child. Rather than make her weakness a hindrance to success, she often referred to it as an asset, as it allowed her to focus on her tasks while on her way to becoming the “world’s fastest woman”.
On Friday, Google dedicated a doodle of O’Neal on her 77th birthday, highlighting the inspiring character she’s become.
Born March 24, 1946, in Corpus Christi, Texas, O’Neal was 5 months old when she was diagnosed simultaneously with mumps, measles, and smallpox. The conditions caused a high temperature which led to her going deaf. Her mother, a Cherokee homemaker, taught O’Neill to speak and lip-read instead of using sign language. (Her mother would eventually become a speech therapist and open a school for the hearing impaired.)
Katie O’Neill jumped from the 12th story of a hotel in a 1979 episode of Wonder Woman, setting her first fall record.
Getty Images
As a teenager, O’Neill began competing as a platform diver and was a favorite for the 1964 Olympics before a wrist injury and a bout of spinal meningitis derailed those ambitions.
“I got sick, so I had to start over, and I got bored,” She later told the Midco Sports Network. “I wanted to do something fast. Speed. Motorcycle. Water skiing. Boat. Anything.”
She raced towboats, motorcycles, and sports cars before embarking on a career as a stunt worker that saw her jump off buildings, dangle from tall windows and catch fire. Her stunts can be seen in movies like The Blues Brothers and Smokey and Bandit II, as well as TV shows like The Bionic Woman and Baretta.
Along the way, she set records for the women’s high fall (twice), women’s speed in the water and women’s fastest water ski. But she is perhaps best known for setting the women’s land speed record. On December 6, 1976, she drove a three-wheeled, rocket-powered car called the Motivator at an average speed of 512.71 mph over two runs—breaking the previous record of 321 mph.
O’Neill retired from stunts in 1982 after several of her colleagues were killed while performing. At the time, she held 22 speed records.
O’Neal died of pneumonia in 2018 at the age of 72.
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