Miss Universe 1966 was the 15th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, on 16 July 1966.
At the conclusion of the event, Apasra Hongsakula of Thailand crowned Margareta Arvidsson of Sweden as Miss Universe 1966. It is the second victory of Sweden in the history of the pageant.
Contestants from fifty-eight countries and territories competed in this edition. The pageant was hosted by Jack Linkletter, while Pat Boone and June Lockhart served as backstage correspondents. This edition of Miss Universe is the first to be broadcast in color.
Background Selection of participants Contestants from fifty-eight 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 Miss Dominion of Canada 1966, Diane Coulter, withdrew for health concerns and was replaced by her first runner-up, Marjorie Schofield.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals This edition saw the debut of Guam, and the returns of Lebanon and Singapore which last competed in 1962; Morocco in 1963; and Argentina, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago in 1964.
Moomba Queen 1966, Erica McMillan, was scheduled to compete as the Australian representative but died in a car accident. No one was sent as a replacement, forcing the country to withdraw. Miss Tunisia, Zeineb Lamine, and Miss Uruguay, Susana Regeden, both withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Hong Kong, Mexico, and Portugal withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.
Miss Honduras 1966, Danira Miralda Buines, and Miss Saint Vincent 1966, Anna Ellis, both withdrew for undisclosed reasons.
Results
Placements Placement Contestant Miss Universe 1966 – Margareta Arvidsson 1st Runner-Up – Satu Östring 2nd Runner-Up Thailand – Cheranand Savetanand 3rd Runner-Up – Yasmin Daji 4th Runner-Up – Aviva Israeli Top 15 – Edna Rudd – Gitte Kleinert – Janice Whiteman – Margo Domen – Siri Nilsen – Madeleine Hartog-Bel – Clarinda Soriano – Paquita Torres – Maria Remenyi – Marion Heinrich
Special awards Award Contestant Miss Amity – Elizabeth Sanchez – Paquita Torres Miss Photogenic – Margareta Arvidsson Best National Costume – Aviva Israeli
Pageant Format Miss Universe has made several changes to the competition format. Starting with this edition, instead of revealing the 15 semifinalists during the preliminary competition, they were called one by one at the final competition, in no particular order. After announcing their countries, the semifinalists were individually interviewed by Jack Linkletter. Following the interviews, the 15 semifinalists participated in the swimsuit and evening gown competitions. From fifteen, five contestants were shortlisted to advance to the final interview.
Selection committee Sigvard Bernadotte – Swedish prince and designer Count Jean de Beaumont – French art critic Anthony Delano – Foreign correspondent of the Daily Mirror Philippe Halsman – American portrait photographer Dong Kingman – Chinese-American painter Armi Kuusela-Hilario – Miss Universe 1952 from Finland Eartha Kitt – American singer and actress Sukich Nimmanheminda – Former Ambassador of Thailand to the United States Akira Takarada – Japanese actor Earl Wilson – American columnist and journalist
Contestants Fifty-eight contestants competed for the title. Country/Territory Contestant Age Hometown Argentina 20 Buenos Aires Aruba 18 San Nicolaas Austria 21 Vienna Bahamas 19 Nassau Belgium 18 Brussels Bermuda 20 Hamilton Bolivia 20 Santa Cruz de la Sierra Brazil 19 Rio de Janeiro Canada 18 Burlington Ceylon 20 Colombo Chile 20 Bíobío Colombia 19 Bogotá Costa Rica 18 Cartago Cuba 20 Miami Curaçao 18 Willemstad Denmark 18 Copenhagen Ecuador 22 Quito England 21 Southampton Finland 19 Tampere France 19 Cannes Greece 21 Athens Guam 20 Agana Guyana 20 Georgetown Holland 18 The Hague Iceland 22 Garðabær India 19 Kanpur Ireland 21 Dublin Israel 18 Tel Aviv Italy 20 Rome Jamaica 22 Kingston Japan 18 Yao Lebanon 18 Beirut Luxembourg 19 Luxembourg City Malaysia 18 Ipoh Morocco – Rabat New Zealand 20 Auckland Norway 21 Oslo Okinawa 19 Okinawa Panama 19 Panama City Paraguay 18 Alto Paraguay Peru 20 Piura Philippines 20 Bacoor Puerto Rico 18 Santurce Scotland 20 Glasgow Singapore 19 Singapore South Africa 19 Pretoria South Korea 19 Seoul Spain 18 Málaga Suriname 22 Paramaribo Sweden 18 Gothenburg Switzerland 18 Schwyz Thailand 24 Surat Thani Trinidad and Tobago 20 Port of Spain Turkey 18 Istanbul United States 20 El Cerrito Venezuela 18 Calabozo Wales 22 Cardiff West Germany 19 Mönchengladbach
Notes
References
External links
Official website