Ursula Hayden (born Ursa Bamby Hayden; March 8, 1966 – December 3, 2022) was an American professional wrestler, actress, and businesswoman. She was best known for her character Babe the Farmer's Daughter on the 1980s television show ''
Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling'' (also known as ''GLOW'') and being the owner of the company since 2001. She was also a series consultant on the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
original web series ''
GLOW''.
Early life
Ursa Bamby Hayden was born in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, on March 8, 1966,
and grew up in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...
, where she was involved in gymnastics from a very young age.
Career
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Hayden did modeling jobs for various companies such as Sirkka T Fashion and Beno's Department Store.
When Hayden was 17 years old, she entered into Southern California's Miss Perfect Teen Pageant and won first place.
In 1986, Hayden started her professional wrestling career on the hit television show that was known for its colorful characters, strong women, and over-the-top comedy sketches, ''
Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling''. She wrestled under the
ring names "Babe the Farmer's Daughter", "The Princess of Darkness", and "Donna Matrix". In 1987, Hayden worked on a Faberge shampoo commercial while also being in her character Babe the Farmer's Daughter. She then continued her wrestling career by joining ''
Powerful Women of Wrestling
Powerful Women of Wrestling (also known as POWW) was a women's professional wrestling promotion based out of Indianapolis, Indiana founded by David McLane, founder of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and Women of Wrestling.
History
After David McLa ...
'' and portrayed the character Goldie Ray.
Hayden then went on to guest-star in hit television shows such as ''
Hard Time on Planet Earth'' (1989), ''
Married With Children'' (1990), and ''Family Feud'' (1992).
Hayden purchased the
Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) company from
Meshulam Riklis in 2001. Once taking over ownership, Hayden oversaw the restoration of archived GLOW episodes for viewing on the official company website. She then worked on her first wrestling adventure which was a sold out (2003) live event at the
El Rey Theater in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...
. After great reviews with the event, she put together another one that reunited original GLOW wrestlers in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
. Then in 2012, Hayden worked on the documentary titled ''
GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling'', which won the Best Documentary award at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con film festival. The documentary was later released on DVD in the United States and then became available for streaming on Netflix April 1, 2017.
She wrestled three matches in June and July 2011 in
Edmonton, Alberta, in the
independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...
.
Hayden then started working with writers
Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch in 2014, on creating a new GLOW Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling television show. In 2016
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
picked up the pilot for a full season and Hayden served as a series consultant on ''GLOW'' which was released June 23, 2017. She was then featured in articles such as ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'', Inverse, ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...
'', and the ''
LA Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''.
In 2018, Hayden returned to television on ''
The Bachelor'' with fellow original ''Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling'' cast member Angelina Altishin (‘Little Egypt’), to train eight women how to wrestle and put on a live wrestling match. Each of the women were assigned their own wrestling personality, using wildly imaginative costumes and makeup. However, a few of the bachelorettes were upset by the aggressive nature of Ursula and Angelina’s wrestling personas.
Personal life and death
Hayden died from cancer on December 3, 2022, at the age of 56.
Filmography
Television
Films
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayden, Ursula
1966 births
2022 deaths
21st-century American women
Actresses from Santa Monica, California
American female professional wrestlers
Professional wrestlers from California
Sportspeople from Santa Monica, California
20th-century female professional wrestlers
21st-century female professional wrestlers