Miss Universe 1964

Miss Universe 1964 was the 13th Miss Universe pageant, held on at the Miami Beach Convention Hall in Miami Beach, Florida, United States 1 August 1964.

Miss Universe 1964
Corinna Tsopei
Date	1 August 1964
Presenters	John Daly Arlene Francis Jack Linkletter
Venue	Miami Beach Convention Hall, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	60
Placements	15
Debuts	Aruba Grenada Nigeria Saint Vincent
Withdrawals	Cuba Morocco Nicaragua
Returns	Australia Chile England Hong Kong India Malaysia Panama Republic of China Tunisia
Winner	Corinna Tsopei Greece
Congeniality	Jeanne Venables (California)
Best National Costume	Henny Deul (Holland)
Photogenic	Emanuela Stramana (Italy)
← 1963 1965 →

At the end of the event, Iêda Maria Vargas of Brazil crowned Corinna Tsopei of Greece as Miss Universe 1964. It is the first victory of Greece in the history of the pageant.

Contestants from fifty countries and territories competed in this edition. The pageant was hosted by Jack Linkletter, while Arlene Francis and John Charles Daly served as backstage correspondents.^[1][2]

Background

Selection of participants

Contestants from sixty countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. One candidate was appointed to represent her country to replace the original dethroned winner.

Replacements

Wendy Barrie was appointed to represent Scotland after the original Miss Scotland, Doreen Swan, withdrew from the competition to marry her fiancé James Alexander Do Watt Nicoll. Swan was subsequently reported missing, and the FBI suspected she had been abducted.^[3]

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

This edition saw the debuts of Aruba, Grenada, Nigeria, and Saint Vincent, and the returns of India who last competed in 1952; Panama who last competed in 1954; Australia who last competed in 1958; Tunisia who last competed in 1960; Chile who last competed in 1961; and England, Hong Kong, Malaysia (as Malaya), and the Republic of China who last competed in 1962. Cuba, Morocco, and Nicaragua withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Vera Wee of Singapore as Singapore is still part of Malaysia until October 1965, and instead competed at Miss Malaysia 1964 where she finished as a runner-up to Angela Filmer.^[4][5] Ulla Donastorg of the United States Virgin Islands was also set to compete, but withdrew for undisclosed reasons.^[6]

Results

Miss Universe 1964 participating countries and territories

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1964	Greece – Corinna Tsopei[1][7]
1st runner-up	England – Brenda Blackler[1]
2nd runner-up	Israel – Ronit Rinat[1]
3rd runner-up	Sweden – Siv Märta Åberg[1]
4th runner-up	Republic of China – Lana Yu Yi[1]
Top 10	Argentina – María Ramírez[1] Finland – Sirpa Wallenius[1] France – Edith Noël[1] Italy – Emanuela Stramana[1] Norway – Jorunn Barun[1]
Top 15	Bolivia – Olga Mónica del Carpio[1] Brazil – Ângela Vasconcelos[1] Paraguay – Miriam Riart Brugada[1] United States – Bobbi Johnson[1] Venezuela – Mercedes Revenga[1]

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Amity	California – Jeanne Venables[8]
Miss Photogenic	Italy – Emanuela Stramana
Best National Costume	Holland – Henny Deul

Pageant

Format

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.^[9] Afterwards, the fifteen semi-finalists paraded again in their swimsuits and evening gowns, and the ten finalists were eventually chosen. From the ten finalists, the runners-up and the new Miss Universe were then determined.^[1]

Contestants

Sixty contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Argentina	María Amelia Ramírez[10]	19	Santa Fe
Aruba	Lidia Henriquez[11]	–	Oranjestad
Australia	Ria Lubyen[12]	22	Melbourne
Austria	Gloria Mackh[13]	22	Vienna
Bahamas	Catherine Cartwright[14]	18	Nassau
Belgium	Danièle Defrere[15]	20	Brussels
Bolivia	Olga Mónica del Carpio[16]	19	La Paz
Brazil	Ângela Vasconcelos[17]	19	Paraná
British Guiana	Mary Rande Holl[18]	–	Georgetown
Canada	Mary Lou Farrell[19]	21	St. John's
Ceylon	Annette Dona Kulatunga	19	Colombo
Chile	Patricia Herrera	18	Viña del Mar
Colombia	Alba Ramírez[20]	18	Bogotá
Costa Rica	Dora Marcela Sola[21]	21	San José
Curaçao	Iris de Windt[22]	21	Willemstad
Denmark	Yvonne Mortensen	19	Copenhagen
Dominican Republic	Clara Chapuseaux[23]	–	Comenador
Ecuador	Tanya Klein[24]	18	Guayaquil
England	Brenda Blackler[25]	20	Liverpool
Finland	Sirpa Wallenius[26]	21	Helsinki
France	Edith Noël[27]	20	Paris
Greece	Corinna Tsopei[28]	20	Athens
Grenada	Christine Hughes[14]	–	St. George's
Holland	Henny Deul[29]	18	Amsterdam
Hong Kong	Mary Bai	23	Hong Kong
Iceland	Thelma Ingvarsdóttir[30]	18	Reykjavík
India	Meher Castelino[31]	18	Bombay
Ireland	Maurine Lecky	19	Dublin
Israel	Ronit Rinat[32]	18	Haifa
Italy	Emanuela Stramana	22	Venice
Jamaica	Beverly Rerrie[33]	–	Kingston
Japan	Chizuko Matsumoto	19	Fukuoka
Luxembourg	Mariette Stephano	–	Luxembourg City
Malaysia	Angela Filmer[34]	19	Klang
New Zealand	Lyndal Ursula Cruickshank[35]	21	Auckland
Nigeria	Edna Park[36]	19	Lagos
Norway	Jorunn Barun	18	Oslo
Okinawa	Toyoko Uehara	20	Okinawa
Panama	Maritza Montilla[37]	–	Coclé
Paraguay	Miriam Riart Brugada[38]	21	Asunción
Peru	Miluska Vondrak[39]	20	Loreto
Philippines	Myrna Panlilio[40]	22	Manila
Puerto Rico	Yolanda Rodríguez[41]	21	Rio Piedras
Republic of China	Lana Yu Yi[42]	20	Taipei
Saint Vincent	Stella Hadley[43]	18	Kingstown
Scotland	Wendy Barrie[44]	19	Glasgow
South Africa	Gail Robinson[45]	20	Johannesburg
South Korea	Shin Jung-hyun	21	Seoul
Spain	Maria José Ulla Madronero[46]	19	Madrid
Suriname	Cynthia Dijkstra[47]	18	Paramaribo
Sweden	Siv Märta Åberg[48]	22	Stockholm
Switzerland	Sandra Sulser[49]	–	Lausanne
Trinidad and Tobago	Julia Merlene Laurence[14]	–	Port of Spain
Tunisia	Claudine Younes	22	Tunis
Turkey	Inçi Duran	18	Istanbul
United States	Bobbi Johnson[50]	19	Washington D.C.
Uruguay	Delia Babiak	–	Montevideo
Venezuela	Mercedes Revenga	18	Caracas
Wales	Marilyn Joy Samuel	22	Monmouthsire
West Germany	Marina Kettler[51]	20	Berlin

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant