Miss Universe 1963

Miss Universe 1963 was the 12th Miss Universe pageant held on 20 July 1963 at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Iêda Maria Vargas of Brazil was crowned the winner by outgoing titleholder Norma Nolan of Argentina.^[1] This marks the first time that a Miss Universe titleholder marks the same placement as the 1962 World Cup champion. Fifty countries and territories participated.

Miss Universe 1963
Iêda Maria Vargas, Miss Universe 1963
Date	20 July 1963
Hosts	John Charles Daly Arlene Francis Gene Rayburn
Venue	Miami Beach Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Broadcaster	CBS, WTVJ
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 →

Results

Placements

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

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Amity	Scotland – Grace Taylor[1]
Miss Photogenic	Ireland – Marlene McKeown
Best National Costume	Israel – Sherin Ibrahim

Contestants

Miss Universe 1963 participating nations and results

Fifty contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Argentina	Olga Galuzzi	23	Buenos Aires
Austria	Gertrude Bergner	19	Vienna
Bahamas	Sandra Louise Young	19	Nassau
Belgium	Irene Godin	19	Liège
Bolivia	Ana María Velasco	–	Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Brazil	Iêda Maria Vargas	18	Porto Alegre
British Guiana	Gloria Blackman-Miller	–	Georgetown
Canada	Jane Kmita	24	Regina
Ceylon	Manel De Silva	24	Kandy
Colombia	María Cristina Álvarez	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	Copenhagen
Dominican Republic	Carmen Abinader	–	Santiago de los Caballeros
Ecuador	Patricia Córdova	19	Quito
Finland	Riitta Kautiainen	18	Helsinki
France	Monique Lemaire	18	Paris
West Germany	Helga Ziesemer	19	Nuremberg
Greece	Despina Orgeta	20	Athens
Holland	Else Onstenk	21	Arnhem
Iceland	Theódóra Þórðardóttir	18	Reykjanesbær
Ireland	Marlene McKeown	18	Belfast
Israel	Sherin Ibrahim	19	Tel Aviv
Italy	Gianna Serra	19	Rome
Jamaica	June Maxine Bowman	–	Kingston
Japan	Noriko Ando	23	Tokyo
Luxembourg	Mia Dahm	–	Luxembourg City
Morocco	Selma Rahal	–	Casablanca
New Zealand	Regina Scandrett	18	Christchurch
Nicaragua	Leda Sánchez	20	Carazo
Norway	Eva Carlberg	20	Oslo
Okinawa	Reiko Uehara	25	Okinawa
Paraguay	Amelia Benítez	–	Asunción
Peru	Dora Toledano	18	Iquitos
Philippines	Lalaine Bennett[2]	19	Quezon City
Puerto Rico	Jeanette Blascoechea	18	San Juan
Scotland	Grace Taylor	20	Motherwell
South Africa	Ellen Liebenberg	20	Cape Town
South Korea	Kim Myoung-ja	20	Seoul
Spain	María Rosa Pérez	18	Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Suriname	Brigida Hagens	18	Paramaribo
Sweden	Kerstin Margareta Jonsson	21	Stockholm
Switzerland	Diane Tanner	25	Geneva
Trinidad	Jean Stoddart	18	San Fernando
Turkey	Guler Samuray	22	Istanbul
United States	Marite Ozers[3]	19	Chicago
Uruguay	Graciela Pintos	–	Montevideo
Venezuela	Irene Morales	18	Achaguas
Wales	Maureen Thomas	22	Pontypool

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant

Did not compete

•  Aruba - Enid Marugg
•  Barbados - Hazel Eastmond
•  Dahomey - Francine Marcos (arrived late)^[1]
•  England - Susan Pratt (arrived but had a car accident, broken leg, stayed in the pageant but didn't compete)^[1]
•  Hong Kong - Cheung Yen Ping
•  Lebanon - Mona Slim
• Macau - Ying Yun Hiu
•  Malaya - Nik Azizah Yahya
•  Mexico - Beatriz Martinez Solorzano
•  Panama - Ana Cecilia Maruri
•  Panama Canal Zone - Ruby Thelma Bacot
•  Portugal - Maria Penedo
•  Tahiti - Noela Bernardino

References

1. "Miss Brazil Is Miss Universe Contest Winner". The Troy Messenger. United Press International. 21 Jul 1963. p. 1. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
2. Dolor, Danny (19 September 2015). "Lalaine B. Bennett: Miss U '63 finalist". Philippine Star. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
3. "Miss Illinois Wins Miss U.S.A. Title". Tri-City Herald. Associated Press. July 18, 1963. Retrieved 23 July 2023.

External links

• Miss Universe official website