Famous Pageant Winners
From Halle Berry to Oprah Winfrey - Famous Pageant Winners and Losers
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Aishwarya Rai, Miss World 1994, is best known as a international film superstar and "the most beautiful woman in the world."
In 1994, she entered the Femina Miss India pageant where she placed second to Sushmita Sen. With Sen representing India at the Miss Universe pageant, Aishwarya's duties as the first alternate included representing India in the rival Miss World Pageant, held that year in Sun City, South Africa.
There, Rai became an immediate crowd favourite...
[Read more...]
Halle Berry - Miss Ohio USA 1986
Halle
Berry's pageant titles include:
Miss Teen All American 1985,
Miss
Ohio-USA 1986, first runner-up to Miss USA® 1986, and 4th runner-up to
Miss World 1986. She
won the coveted role of Queen in the Alex Hailey mini-series, Queen,
on the TV series Knots Landing and Living Dolls, and
starred in the movies Jungle Fever and The Flintstones. She is the first African-American woman ever to win an
Academy Award
for her performance in the film, Monster's ball in 2002. [Read
more...]
Oprah
Winfrey: Before becoming an Emmy Award-winning television talk show host,
Oprah Winfrey
won the
1971 Miss Fire
Prevention and Miss Black Tennessee titles. When asked what she would do
with a million dollars, Winfrey delighted the judges when she blurted out, "I'd
be a spending fool!" She competed in the Miss Black America Pageant, but failed
to make the finals. Oprah began her career in broadcasting at Nashville's radio-WVOL
while she was in high school.
Her
The Oprah Winfrey Show became the highest rated talk show in
television history. In 1985, she made her acting debut as "Sofia" in
Steven Spielberg's
The Color Purple. She was
nominated for both Academy Award® and Golden Globe honors. [
Read
more...]
Sharon Stone - Miss Crawford County 1976
Screen queen Sharon Stone, of Basic Instinct fame, honed her instincts
for performing in small town pageants where she won the titles Saegertown's Spring Festival Queen and 1976 Miss Crawford County. When a Miss Pennsylvania Pageant judge suggested she try modeling,
she contracted with the Eileen Ford Agency and her career was launched.
Stone eventually switched to acting, starring in Basic
Instinct, Sliver, and Intersection, and rapidly becoming
one of the highest paid actresses in film history.
•
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Sharon Stone movies
Vanessa Williams -
Miss America 1984
Vanessa
Williams Miss America 1984, the first African-American woman ever to win the
coveted title,
was a stand-out who won both the swimsuit and talent competitions at the
national competition. After her historic victory, during her reign, she was asked to resign when
Penthouse
magazine published sexually-explicit photos she had posed for
earlier.
Despite initially appearing to be ruined by scandal,
she rebounded and achieved fame as a recording artist with her debut album, The Right Stuff.
It was followed by four hits: Dreamin, Darling I, He
Got the Look which earned her first three Grammy nominations,
including Best New Artist. In 1996 she starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action film, Eraser.
[Read
more...]
Diane
Sawyer: Chosen
as
America's Junior Miss 1963, Diane
Sawyer used her pageant scholarship
money to attend
Wellesley College, worked as a weathergirl, then
press aide to Richard Nixon during his presidency and after his
Watergate resignation.
In 1981 she was named co-anchor of the
CBS Morning News. Initially dismissed by some critics
as an unqualified beauty queen, Sawyer earned high marks and
was hired as a
Sixty Minutes correspondent, co-anchor
of
Day One, Turning Point, and, finally, ABC's
PrimeTime
Live. Sawyer ranks as one of the highest paid newswomen in
television history.
[
Read more...]
Raquel Welch - Miss San
Diego
Raquel Welsh:
In
her era, Raquel Welch was considered to be one of the world's sexiest
women. Her titles included Miss Photogenic, Miss La Jolla, Miss Contour,
Miss San Diego and 1957 Miss Fairest of the Fair. The judges placed her
only second in the Miss Southern California Pageant.
Her film credits include the memorable role of prehistoric babe
in One Million B.C. Her
career break came when she appeared with Mae West in the film,
Myra Breckinridge. On Broadway, she starred
in Woman of the Year and in Victor/Victoria.
Her
business acumen has been demonstrated through her highly successful
line of Raquel Welch wigs.
This
high school valedictorian and Stanford University student who had also studied
at Oxford University in England,
Gretchen Carlson was chosen as
Miss American 1989.
Competing as Miss Minnesota, she is the only classical violinist to win the Miss
America and is credited with being one of the brightest titleholders ever.
Before being named co-anchor of Fox's live morning show
Fox & Friends, cable
TV's top-rated morning program, Carlson has served as a news correspondent for the CBS News and
co-anchor of the CBS
Saturday Early Show.
Gretchen's work as a television journalist has been honored by ...
[
Read more...]
Jeri Ryan - Miss
Illinois 1989
Jeri
Lynn Ryan competed as Miss Illinois in the 1990 Miss America Pageant.
There, resembling the 'Toon character, Jessica Rabbit, she won the swimsuit competition
and placed as 4th runner-up. A
graduate of Northwestern University, Jeri
was a national merit scholar.
She has enjoyed a successful television
career, appearing numerous shows including: The O.C.,
Dark Skies, Melrose
Place, and Murder, She
Wrote. She starred as the sexy Borg character,
"Seven of Nine," in
Star Trek: Voyager
and later later as teacher Ronnie Cook
in the hit series
Fox TV's Boston Public.
•
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Kelly Hu
Kelly Hu, the former Miss Teen USA of Chinese-Hawaiian lineage, has achieved
success in the entertainment field, starring in Martial Law opposite Sammo Hung.
•
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Lara Dutta - Miss Universe® 2002
The elegant Miss Universe® 2002 from India has gone on to enjoy film
success in her native countries famous Bollywood.
•
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Heather Whitestone,
Miss America 1995, is the first woman with a physical disability ever to win the
coveted national title. As millions of American viewers watched by live
television, the gutsy Miss Alabama performed a classical ballet to Via Delarosa
-- music she could not hear -- by memorizing the music's beats; and then
engaging in a live interviewed with co-host Regis Philbin by lip-reading his
questions, Heather Whitestone became the first profoundly-deaf woman to be named
Miss America. A beloved titleholder and inspiration
to millions of Americans, Heather successfully promoted her platform, S.T.A.R.S. ("Success
Through Action and Realization of your dreams) throughout her reign. She also becomes the first Miss America ever
to be featured on a Barbara Walters'
television special. [Read
more...]
Phyllis
George, Miss America 1971, who
won the 1971 as Miss Texas, was the only winner
to drop her crown on live television.
She went on to become
the first successful female sports anchor (NFL Today)
and starred on Candid Camera, People, and CBS's The
Morning News. She later served as First Lady of Kentucky
with (now ex-) husband, John Y. Brown.
Julie
Bryan Moran - America's Junior Miss 1980
Julie Bryan Moran was named America's Junior Miss 1980 before graduating magna cum laude from the University of Georgia with a degree in
journalism.
Her broad career in television and journalism has included Wide World of Sports, Movie Time for E! and
NBA Inside Stuff; and Entertainment Tonight.
Deborah Norville -
Georgia's Junior Miss 1976
Norville, the
Inside Edition anchor who was embroiled in controversy when she
replaced Jane Pauley on Today, was Georgia's Junior Miss
in the 1976 America's Junior Miss Pageant.
Leanza Cornett - Miss America 1992
Leanza Cornett, Miss America 1992, who was the first Miss Florida to
win the Miss America title, has appeared as a reporter on Entertainment Tonight, co-hosted numerous shows including Lifetime Network's
New Attitudes, and starred in Barefoot in the Park.
She is
married to Mark Stienes, reporter for Entertainment Tonight.
Lindsay Bloom
Bloom,
the 4th runner-up at Miss International, achieved fame playing sexy
blonds on TV sitcoms: Daisy on
The Dukes of Hazards, Ray
Krebb's girlfriend on
Dallas, and
Vega$. Later, she dyed
her trademark blond tresses brunette to play Stacy Keach's sidekick,
Velda, on
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer.
Delta Burke - Miss Florida 1973
One of
the best known "losers" at the Miss America Pageant, Delta competed as
Miss Florida in the 1974 contest. She failed to make the top ten after
performing her British dramatic recital about soon-to-be-executed
Queen Anne Boleyn, with a Southern
accent.
Later, she trademarked the role of former beauty queen as Suzanne Sugarbaker on the hit series, Designing Women,
and starred in Filthy Rich and Love and Curses and All That
Jazz.
Delta's other pageant titles included Miss Florida Flame, Miss
Veteran's Day, Miss Orlando Action Princess, and Miss All-American Girl.
Nancy O'Dell
Nancy O'Dell, Miss South Carolina 1987: A marketing major
and sorority girl at Clemson University, Nancy Humphries (O'Dell) won the Miss
South Carolina Pageant in 1987 and competed in the Miss America Pageant, where
she performed as a vocalist in the talent competition. She did not place among
in the semi-finals.
Nancy went on to enter the field of television journalism, where she served
as a co-anchor for several stations in Miami and Los Vegas. O'Dell has co-hosted
several Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants. This spring Nancy, when longtime
host Mary Hart retires from Entertainment Tonight, O'Dell will assume her
position.
She is married to a television executive and has a baby daughter.
Jamie Nicole Dudney
- Miss Tennessee 1993
Miss
Tennessee 1993 now appears as Georgia in the daytime soap, As the
World Turns.
Bobbie Eakes - Miss
Georgia 1981
Eakes,
who competed as Miss Georgia in the 1982 Miss America Pageant, won the
role of Macy on The Bold and the Beautiful.
Mary Frann
- America's Junior Miss 1961
Mary
Frann won the 1961 America's Junior Miss title before going on to star
as Joanna Loudon on the hit sitcom Newhart.
She attended
Northwestern University and founded the America's Junior Miss Council in
1995. Frann died in 1998.
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen
- Miss Junior America
Thiessen parlayed
her titles, Miss Junior America and winner of the 'Teen Magazine
Model Search, into a successful television career. The actresses
roles include Saved by the Bell and Valerie Malone on
Beverly Hills 90210 (She replaced Shannen Doherty).
Gina Tolleson - Miss World 1990
Gina's titles include Miss South Carolina, Miss World USA, and Miss World 1990. She enjoys an entertainment career and is
married to actor Alan Thicke.
Marilyn
Van Derbur, Miss America 1958, remains one the most respected Miss
Americas ever. Her road to the national crown was serendipity,
according to the book Miss America: In Pursuit of the Crown".
According to the book,
Marilyn Van Derbur was literally drafted into the Miss University of
Colorado Pageant by her sorority sisters when she was called out of a
meeting for a long distance phone call. Marilyn nearly panicked.
In
2003, Miss America 1958, Marilyn Van Derbur, publishes "Miss America By
Day", her account of growing up as a
victim of sexual abuse. The revelation that a tremendously
respected former Miss America had been the victim of incest is met with
a huge outpouring of public sympathy - and a flood of contact from women
across the country with similar stories. Overnight, Van Derbur
becomes an advocate on the issue and an inspirational model of hope for
sexual abuse survivors worldwide.
•
More about
Marilyn Van
Derbur
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras - Miss Teen USA 1990
Bridgette won the 1990 Miss Teen USA title representing Oregon (she was the second
contestant from the state to win the national title.
Bridgette
went into acting and appeared on
Saved By The Bell,
Billy Madison, the Arnold Schwarzenegger film,
Last Action Hero,
Mortal Kombat,
Love Stinks, Shop Girl, I Know What You Did
Last Summer and
The Wedding Planner.
In 2000,
she married tennis star Pete Sampras, with whom she has two sons,
Christian and Ryan.
•
See
Bridgette Wilson movies
Michelle Yeoh - Miss Malaysia 1983
Named,
Miss Malaysia in 1983, most Americans know
her as Pierce Brosnan's sidekick, Chinese secret agent Wai Lin,
in the James Bond flick, Tomorrow Never Dies. But the
former Miss Malaysia (1983) is known throughout Asia as a kung-fu
queen who has starred in nine movies including the mega-hit,
Police Story III: Supercop. And, yes, she performs her
own dangerous stunts.
•
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Michelle Yeoh movies
Paula Zahn - Miss
Teenage America 1973
After competing
in numerous pageants and making the finals of the 1973 Miss Teenage
America Pageant, Zahn entered television journalism, wracking
up credits on The Health Show, ABC's World News This Morning,
and CBS This Morning with Harry Smith.
She now anchors the
CNN news program Paul Zahn Now, which focusing
on exposing intolerance and social injustice.
•
Paula Zahn - Bio - CNN
Kathie Lee Gifford
-Maryland's Junior Miss
Before rising
to TV fame as star of Live with Regis and Kathie Lee,
Kathie Lee Gifford represented Maryland in the America's Junior Miss Pageant.
She was quietly disqualified when she inadvertently broke the
rules by chatting with a man in public. Reeeeege?!
Kathie Lee Gifford music CDs
Karen
Morris Gowdy - America's Junior Miss 1974
Karen Morris was crowned America's Junior Miss of 1974. She
graduated from the University of Wyoming and married Curt Gowdy Jr.
Karen's career in acting has included playing Dr. Faith Coleridge for
almost a decade on the Emmy-winning Ryan's Hope.
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
studied drama at Northwestern University
before competing in the 1946 Miss America Pageant as Miss Chicago where she was named a semifinalist. Although Cloris
failed to win that national title, she used her scholarship
earnings to study drama with
Elia Kazan.
Leachman
became a respected actress who has been nominated for over
20 Emmy awards, won four Emmy awards, and earned the Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, The
Last Picture Show.
Leachman's dozens of credits include
the hit TV series The
Mary Tyler Moore Show, Texasville, Kiss Me Deadly, and Danielle
Steel's Fine Things.
Imelda Marcos
Before reigning
as First Lady of the Philippines by the side of Ferdinand Marcos,
Imelda Romualdez reigned as Miss Manilla 1953.
Ali MacGraw
MacGraw,
a model and contestant in a "prettiest waitress" pageant in 1957,
achieved overnight fame playing Ryan O'Neal's lover dying
from leukemia
in 1970's hit film, Love Story.
The role earned her an Academy Award nomination for best Actress and a
Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Drama.
MacGraw's
film career has including playing the leading lady
to some of Hollywood's greatest actors. MacGraw
starred in Goodbye, Columbus (1969) for which she won
a Golden Globe award
for "New Female Star of the Year",
The Getaway (1972) with Steve McQueen,
Convoy (1978 with Earnest Borgnine, Players
(1979), China Rose (1983) with George C.
Scott, and The Winds of War (1983) with Robert
Mitchum.
Equally well known for her romantic life, MacGraw married
film producer Robert Evans in 1971. After falling in
love with co-star Steve McQueen during the filming of The
Getaway, she divorced Evans and married McQueen.
They divorced in 1978.
Although her career lost momentum after the marriage, she
later returned to the spotlight to appear in Glam
(1997) and Natural Causes (1994) and to produce her
best-selling yoga video, Ali MacGraw: Yoga Mind & Body.
Vera Miles
She won the 1948
Miss America swimsuit competition, but placed only third to a
marimba-playing Minnesota farm girl (BeBe Shopp), who won
the crown.
Still, Miles went on to enjoy a successful acting
career, appearing on television's Marcus Welby and Kojak,
and in numerous films including the Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960)
for which she became famous, and The Wrong Man
(1957) with Henry Fonda. Miles was a regular leading
lady in John Wayne films including
The Searchers (1956),The Man Who Shot
Liberty Valance (1962) and
Hellfighters
(1968).
•
View Vera Miles movies
Shawn Weatherly - Miss Universe 1980
Shawn
Weatherly, student at Clemson University and a Delta Delta Delta sorority
sister, won the 1980 Miss South Carolina, Miss USA and 1980 Miss Universe titles
by a landslide.
She became fifth Miss USA to win the international crown and was a hugely
popular winner. Shawn moved into acting, where she starred as one of the
swimsuit-clad lifeguards on Baywatch, served as a diving host (even
swimming with sharks) on Oceanquest, and then had a starring role in
Police Academy 3: Back in Training.
Weatherly is now married, with two children.
Susan Anton
Anton nearly won the Miss America title at age 18, when she competed as Miss
California. After winning the talent competition singing Happy Days Are
Here Again, she placed as second runner-up. Anton then contracted as the
Muriel Cigar Girl, and eventually starred in Mel & Susan Together,
Presenting Susan Anton, Cliffhangers, Baywatch, and in the movies
Spring Fever, Cannonball Run II, and Goldengirl with James Coburn.
Jayne Kennedy
The former NFL Today co-host broke racial barriers when she competed
as Miss Ohio in the 1970 Miss USA Pageant.
Anita Bryant
Miss Oklahoma 1959 and second runner-up to Miss America 1959 (Mary Ann
Mobley), Anita achieved fame as the quintessential patriotic performer and
spokesperson for the Florida orange juice industry. She later became embroiled
in scandal after taking a public stand against gay rights.
Loni Anderson
Before the busty blond dazzled fans on WKRP Cincinnati and married
Bert Reynolds, Loni was a busty brunette Miss Roseville in the Miss Minnesota
Pageant.
Bridgette Wilson Sampras
Bridgette, Miss Teen Oregon 1990, won the title of Miss Teen USA 1990. Her
early acting career began with her appeared in Saved by the Bell. She
quickly moved on to the big screen where she played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
daughter in the movie Last Action Hero (playing ), Mortal Kombat, and
The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez. Married to tennis star Pete Sampras in
2000, she is the mother of their two sons.
Mary Ann Mobley
- Miss America 1959
Mobley, Miss Mississippi 1958, won the 1959 Miss America
title after she switched from a prim aria to a mock strip
tease in the talent competition.
She later appeared in two Elvis Presley movies, and
co-hosted the Miss America Pageant with husband Gary
Collins.
•
View Mary Ann Mobley movies
Marla Maples (Trump)
Before becoming
the second Mrs. Donald Trump, Marla was named Miss Photogenic
and placed fourth in Georgia's Miss Teen Pageant. In 2007, she was hired
to co-star in the television series, The Ex-Wives Club.
•
View Marla Maples biography
Mary Hart
Famed for her insured legs and perennial perkiness, the anchor of Entertainment
Tonight competed as Mary Johanna Harum, Miss South Dakota, in the 1970 Miss America Pageant. She made the top ten, but lost to Phyllis George.
Hart later co-hosted PM Magazine
and co-hosted with Regis Philbin before moving on to E.T.
fame.
Cheryl Lynn Herring
Cheryl, who competed as Miss Virginia and 4th runner-up in the 1977 Miss USA® Pageant.
She later appeared in the ABC soap opera, General Hospital, as Lucy Quartermaine Coe.
Laura Herring
Laura, the first
Latina to win the Miss USA®title (1985), went on to marry a European
count and star in the daytime television series, Sunset Beach,
as Carla on General Hospital, and in the sexy film, The
Forbidden Dance
