Miss Universe 1963

Miss Universe 1963 was the 12th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States on 20 July 1963.

Miss Universe 1963
Iêda Maria Vargas
Date	20 July 1963
Hosts	John Charles Daly Arlene Francis Gene Rayburn
Venue	Miami Beach Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	50
Placements	15
Debuts	Bahamas Curaçao Okinawa Trinidad and Tobago
Withdrawals	Dahomey England Haiti Hong Kong Lebanon Malaya Portugal Republic of China Singapore Tahiti United States Virgin Islands
Returns	British Guiana Denmark Jamaica Nicaragua Suriname
Winner	Iêda Maria Vargas Brazil
Congeniality	Grace Taylor (Scotland)
Best National Costume	Sherin Ibrahim (Israel)
Photogenic	Marlene McKeown (Ireland)
← 1962 1964 →

At the end of the event, Norma Nolan of Argentina crowned Iêda Maria Vargas of Brazil as Miss Universe 1963. It is the first victory of Brazil in the history of the pageant.

Contestants from fifty countries and territories competed in this edition. The pageant was hosted by John Charles Daly, while Arlene Francis and Gene Rayburn served as backstage correspondents.

Background

Selection of participants

Contestants from fifty countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Two candidates were appointed to represent their countries after being a runner-up at their respective national pageants, while one candidate was appointed to represent her country to replace the original dethroned winner.^[1]

Replacements

Maureen Thomas, first runner-up of Miss Wales 1963, was appointed to represent Wales because Miss Wales 1963 Pat Finch was not "Welsh enough" according to pageant organizers.^[1]

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

This edition saw the debuts of the Bahamas, Curaçao, Okinawa, and Trinidad and Tobago, and the returns of Nicaragua who last competed in 1955; British Guiana who last competed in 1958; Suriname who last competed in 1960; and Denmark and Suriname who last competed in 1961.

Francine Marcos of Dahomey withdrew after arriving late to the competition.^[2] Susan Pratt of England on the other hand, withdrew after being involved in a car accident which left her with a broken leg.^[3][4]

Nik Azizah Yahya of Malaysia withdrew after not reaching the minimum age requirement.^[5] Cheung Yen Ping of Hong Kong, Mona Slim of Lebanon, Maria Penedo of Portugal, and Noela Bernardino of Tahiti withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Haiti, the Republic of China, Singapore, and the United States Virgin Islands withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Beatriz Martinez Solorzano of Mexico was supposed to compete but withdrew after not reaching the minimum age requirement.^[6] Enid Marugg of Aruba, Hazel Eastmond of Barbados, Ying Yun Hiu of Macau, Ana Cecilia Maruri of Panama, and Ruby Thelma Bacot of the Panama Canal Zone were all set compete, but withdrew for undisclosed reasons.^[7][8]

Results

Miss Universe 1963 participating countries and territories

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1963	Brazil – Iêda Maria Vargas[9]
1st runner-up	Denmark – Aino Korva[9]
2nd runner-up	Ireland – Marlene McKeown[9]
3rd runner-up	Philippines – Lalaine Bennett[9]
4th runner-up	South Korea – Kim Myoung-ja[9]
Top 15	Argentina – Olga Galuzzi[10]  Austria – Gertrude Bergner[10]  Colombia – María Cristina Álvarez[10]  Finland – Riitta Kautiainen[10]  France – Monique Lemaire[10]  Italy – Gianna Serra[10]  Japan – Noriko Ando[10]  South Africa – Ellen Liebenberg[10]  United States – Marite Ozers[10]  West Germany – Helga Carla Ziesemer[10]

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Amity	Scotland – Grace Taylor[9]
Miss Photogenic	Ireland – Marlene McKeown[11]
Best National Costume	Israel – Sherin Ibrahim[12]

Pageant

Format

Same with 1955, fifteen semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Each of the fifteen semi-finalists gave a short speech during the final telecast using their native languages. Afterwards, the fifteen semi-finalists paraded again in their swimsuits and evening gowns, and the five finalists were eventually chosen.^[10]

Contestants

Fifty contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Argentina	Olga Galuzzi[13]	23	Buenos Aires
Austria	Gertrude Bergner[14]	19	Vienna
Bahamas	Sandra Young	19	Nassau
Belgium	Irene Godin[15]	19	Liège
Bolivia	Ana María Velasco[16]	–	Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Brazil	Iêda Maria Vargas[13]	18	Porto Alegre
British Guiana	Gloria Blackman-Miller[17]	–	Georgetown
Canada	Jane Kmita	24	Regina
Ceylon	Manel De Silva[18]	24	Kandy
Colombia	María Cristina Álvarez[19]	18	Bogotá
Costa Rica	Sandra Chrysopulos Morúa	18	San José
Cuba	Alicia Margit Chia	19	Havana
Curaçao	Philomena Zielinski	18	Willemstad
Denmark	Aino Korva[20]	20	Copenhagen
Dominican Republic	Carmen Abinader	–	Santiago de los Caballeros
Ecuador	Patricia Córdova[21]	19	Quito
Finland	Riitta Kautiainen[22]	18	Helsinki
France	Monique Lemaire[23]	18	Paris
Greece	Despina Orgeta	20	Athens
Holland	Else Onstenk[24]	21	Arnhem
Iceland	Theódóra Þórðardóttir[25]	18	Reykjanesbær
Ireland	Marlene McKeown	18	Belfast
Israel	Sherin Ibrahim[26]	19	Tel Aviv
Italy	Gianna Serra[27]	19	Rome
Jamaica	June Maxine Bowman	–	Kingston
Japan	Noriko Ando[28]	23	Tokyo
Luxembourg	Mia Dahm[29]	–	Luxembourg City
Morocco	Selma Rahal[30]	–	Casablanca
New Zealand	Regina Scandrett[31]	18	Christchurch
Nicaragua	Leda Sánchez[32]	20	Carazo
Norway	Eva Carlberg[33]	20	Oslo
Okinawa	Reiko Uehara	25	Okinawa
Paraguay	Amelia Benítez[34]	–	Asunción
Peru	Dora Toledano[35]	18	Iquitos
Philippines	Lalaine Bennett[36]	19	Quezon City
Puerto Rico	Jeanette Blascoechea[37]	18	San Juan
Scotland	Grace Taylor[38]	20	Motherwell
South Africa	Ellen Liebenberg[39]	20	Cape Town
South Korea	Kim Myoung-ja[31]	20	Seoul
Spain	María Rosa Pérez[40]	18	Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Suriname	Brigida Hagens	18	Paramaribo
Sweden	Kerstin Margareta Jonsson[41]	21	Stockholm
Switzerland	Diane Tanner	25	Geneva
Trinidad and Tobago	Jean Stoddart[42]	18	San Fernando
Turkey	Guler Samuray	22	Istanbul
United States	Marite Ozers[43]	19	Chicago
Uruguay	Graciela Pintos	–	Montevideo
Venezuela	Irene Morales[44]	18	Achaguas
Wales	Maureen Thomas[1]	22	Pontypool
West Germany	Helga Ziesemer	19	Nuremberg

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant