Zelda Gilroy

Zelda Gilroy, portrayed by the American actress Sheila Kuehl (known by the stage name of "Sheila James"), is a character from the American sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which originally aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963. A teenage girl and later young adult woman who was bright in academics, athletic, and somewhat plain-looking, Zelda was smitten with the handsome clean-cut teenager Dobie Gillis, played by Dwayne Hickman, who had his romantic sights on the most beautiful girls, such as Thalia Menninger. Most of these, however, shunned him for various reasons. Zelda was always there for Dobie and his friend Maynard G. Krebs, portrayed by Bob Denver.

History

The character originated not on television, but in "Love is a Science", a Dobie Gillis short story written by humorist Max Shulman and included in his 1959 Dobie Gillis short-story collection I Was a Teenage Dwarf. "Love is a Science" was one of several of the Shulman short stories adapted by the author for the Dobie Gillis television program. Originally intended to play Zelda as a one-shot in the TV adaptation of "Love is a Science" on Dobie Gillis in 1959, Sheila James was upped to recurring and then semi-regular by the show's second season, and continued to appear throughout the run of the program.