REUNION! ‘Electra Woman and Dyna Girl­’ Stars Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis at Hollywood Show

They had their Electra Coms and Electra Car and battled villains using their all-too-cool Electra everythings. They were Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and they were Electra Terrific. While Sid and Marty Krofft’s 1976 superhero series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl starring Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis only lasted one season and a total of 16 episodes (episodes were only about 13 minutes each, and many were two parts), it remains a pop culture favorite. Hall and Strangis took the stage at The Hollywood Show on Saturday, March 2 in Burbank, California.

The series was a bit like Charlie’s Angels meets Batman and Robin, as Electra Woman (Hall) disguised herself as a reporter under her surname Lori, and the piggy-tailed Dyna Girl (Strangis) was known as Judy. Their boss was Professor Frank (Norman Alden) who would page them via their Electra Coms, and then Lori and Judy would dash back to their Electra Base and go through their Electra Change before taking on their next crime-fighting assignment.

From man-eating tigers, shrinking walls, spellbinding powers and villains like Glitter Rock and the Sorcerer, the duo had their fair share of Sid and Marty Krofft psychedelic challenges. At The Hollywood Show they greeted their fans and discussed everything from Barbie, Days of Our Lives, David Cassidy, Donny and Marie Osmond and more!

Credit: Everett Collection

How did you originally learn about the show?

Judy Strangis: I was on a show called Room 222. I got a call asking if I’d be interested in doing this show. I thought it sounded different coming off a show that had just won three Emmys. I was cast on the show. When Deidre was cast she was on Days of Our Lives.

Deidre Hall: It was impossible to do both shows so, of course, we did both shows. I would come to KTLA [in Hollywood] during the week and then, they’d shoot my Days of Our Lives scenes on Saturday. We got it done. We shot the show in Hollywood – in the summer. It was so hot. We didn’t have air conditioning. We had these costumes on and wired microphones wrapped around our bodies. To go to the bathroom, we had to take the whole costume off.

Credit: Everett Collection

Their thoughts on their electra-cool costumes and those awesome boots …

Strangis: I don’t think I thought much about them. (Laughs) We fit in them! I am short and Deidre’s tall so I had to have a little lift in my boot. When you’ve been in the business, you realize it is what it is. You look back and go, ‘Oh, my God!’ The computers? They did nothing. “Bump, bump, bump.” That’s all we heard. Next to us were the Osmonds shooting their [variety] show. Jay Osmond used to come over. Marie, too.

Hall: We’d go over and look at their show. They had an ice-skating rink. That’s how we cooled off.

Credit: Sid and Marty Krafft

On being an action figure

Hall: I have a Barbie doll, too. She’s taller. It’s … I don’t know. What we didn’t know is that they were doing all kinds of merchandising with the show. We learned about them when [fans] brought them to us at shows like this.

On being an extra on Batman.

Strangis: When I was very young with Cristina Ferrare. I had an older brother [Sam Strangis] who directed a lot of the original Batman. When I was little Burt Ward and Adam West used to come to the house all the time.

On the super-villains on the show.

Hall: I remember one of the villains, [Princess Cleopatra] …played by my best friend, Jane Elliot.

Strangis: I remember the Sorcerer [played by] Michael Constantine. He was the star of Room 222. Just three years ago he’d won an Emmy. I thought why is he on this show! But it was fun.

On their reaction to reading the scripts – that were fun and playful — and that Electra Car.

Hall: WE were game. Whatever we did. I remember the car. It was a golf cart. They built a frame around the golf cart.

On the character of Frank Heflin, played by Norman Alden

Strangis: [Norman] was nice. Sweet. He was the character, in a way.

Hall: I remember he had a wicked sense of humor that wasn’t always appropriate.

Strangis: We had a wonderful director, Walter Miller. He was fun. He made cracks the entire time. I think we did a show a day. Imagine getting the script the night before and doing a show and a half the next day! Did we think about what we were doing? No, we just did it.

Hall: My twin sister Andrea was on the show. It was a cloning episode. So she came in and did that.

Credit: 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. /Everett Collection

On Room 222 (1969-1974, pictured above) being ahead of its time in terms of diversity.

Strangis: It was created by James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment; Mary Tyler Moore), a phenomenal creator, director. I still run into him. He’s the nicest human being. It was directed by Gene Reynolds who [who produced] M*A*S*H. We had a phenomenal group of people. I don’t often tell this story but I was in a car accident prior to doing the show. It was really bad. My lip had been torn off because I had a piece of glass still in it so I had to have surgery. I went for the audition for Room 222. I needed surgery. My mom said I needed to have it done. I go to the hospital…nobody knew [I was coming]. I said I want to go home. Two days later, I found out I got the part. If I’d had the surgery I never would have been able to have done the show.

Strangis on doing Bewitched, Love American Style, The Mod Squad, CHiPs, The A-Team

Strangis: The Mod Squad [I did] was with Bobby Sherman. At the time, I was in the magazines with someone by the name of David Cassidy. David and I kind of grew up together. On the show, I played Bobby Sherman’s girlfriend. I remember the press always asking me, ‘Who kissed better? Bobby or David?’ That was a running joke. I did a few CHiPs. Robert Pine was always very, very nice. On Twilight Zone, I worked with Burt Reynolds. How I got that [was interesting]. I was 6 or 7 years old. I was on a plane with my mom coming back from a movie I’d done. I was sitting next to Rod Serling [on the plane]. We got to talking. He just liked me. He said I’ve got a part in a show for you. That was very lucky. [Laughs] I played an obnoxious brat! I remember [Rod] was serious. I never saw him again after that.

I do come from a show business family. You’re all too young here but my uncle was Spike Jones. I was a little girl. I think I got the bug because he was a very famous person. His wife, my aunt was Helen Grayco, who was a singer. When I was a little girl I’d go to Christmas parties [where I’d] see Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Loretta Young, who was a good friend. We’d go to her house after church on Sundays She had a beautiful place on Fountain. She’d come out on her show with a white gown and open these doors. Well, her real place had that. She’d show me scrapbooks with her and Tyrone Power. It was an exciting childhood. I never tell these stories.

©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

On famous fans of Days of Our Lives.

Hall: Julia Roberts. She’s a big fan. We met at the People’s Choice Awards. “I love you. No, I love you!” Smokey Robinson [is another Days fan]. The thing about television is, we memorize and forget it. That’s my excuse for having no memory!

Judy’s connection to Barbie

Strangis: I did the Barbie doll commercial. Malibu Barbie. I think I was the only adult who ever did a Barbie commercial. I had to take a boat and go into the water. I was in my 20s, a spokesperson [for Barbie].

On being on Wiseguy as Claudia Newquay.

Hall: That was before I knew to ask for my wardrobe when I left a show! [Claudia] was dressed do fabulously. It was quite a group. Tim Curry. Debbie Harry. It was quite a group. We shot up in Canada and you’re far from home and feeling a little lost so the people you work with become like your family.

Was “Electra Wow” written into the script?

Strangis: I think it was in the script. I don’t know if I made it up…(Wryly) but I know I write it down a lot. Our fans are wonderful fans. Thank you all.

You can watch the original Electra Woman and Dyna Girl via Prime Video’s Midnight Pulp or Dove Channel as an add on.