Corinne Ben-Ami (; born 1939) is an American artist and former model and Israeli beauty queen (known at that time as Corina "Atara" Barzely) who was crowned

Miss Israel Miss Israel (also referred to as , , ) was a national beauty pageant in Israel. The pageant was founded in 1950, where the winners were sent to Miss Universe. History In the late 1920s, a "Esther, Queen Esther Beauty Pageant" was held in Tel Avi ...

in 1957 and subsequently competed in the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

pageant.

Early life

Born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania, in 1939, Ben-Ami is the daughter and only child to Jewish parents Jeanette and Emil Barzely. In the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the family was forced to flee from Romania to Israel. Ben-Ami attended Montefiore Technical High School in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Miss Israel Beauty Pageant of 1957

While wrapping up her senior year of high school, Ben-Ami was selected to compete in the Miss Israel national beauty pageant of 1957 in Tel Aviv, which was sponsored by

La'Isha ''La'Isha'' (, "For the Woman") is an Israeli lifestyle magazine for women. It has been published on a weekly basis since 1947, and is owned by Yedioth Ahronoth media group.

, an Israeli lifestyle magazine for women, and TIA, a cosmetics company. During the competition, she was chosen from 20 finalists and crowned "Miss Israel" on June 6, 1957, succeeding former beauty queen Sara Tal. Ben-Ami adopted the Hebrew first name ''Atara'' to represent Israel in the Miss Universe pageant.

Miss Universe Beauty Pageant of 1957

Ben-Ami competed as ''Atara Barzely'' in the Miss Universe competition in

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, California, in July 1957. Her contestant profile at the time described her as having black hair and brown eyes, with measurements of 5’ 6’’, 115 pounds, 35-23-35; being fluent in French and

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

languages (this was in addition to English, Spanish, and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

); and excelling in the sport of swimming. In contrast with most of the other contestants who expressed the desire to become film actresses after the competition, Ben-Ami planned to study

bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the Morphology (biology), morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the iden ...

in college and marry her fiancé. When the pageant was over, she stayed in the U.S. for several more weeks to help her homeland by promoting the

Israel Bonds Israel Bonds, the commonly known name of Development Corporation for Israel (DCI), is the U.S. underwriter of debt securities issued by the State of Israel. DCI is headquartered in New York City and is a broker-dealer and member of the Financial ...

fall and winter campaign; she addressed over 30 meetings during that period.

Personal life

Upon returning to Israel after the Miss Universe competition, Ben-Ami continued to model, and in 1958, she married Eugene Weissman. The couple settled in the United States; they share two sons, Ian Weissman (a radiologist) and Michael Weissman (a labor attorney), and a granddaughter, Natalie. In 1962, Ben-Ami earned her bachelor’s degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

with a minor in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

and subsequently received her master's degree in

library science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with info ...

(MLS) at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

on December 10, 1992, as well as earning membership into the

Beta Phi Mu Beta Phi Mu (also or βφμ) is an American honor society for library & information science and information technology. Founded by a group of librarians and library educators, the society's express purpose is to recognize and encourage "superior ...

International Library Science Honor Society on April 21, 1993. During her time at Case Western Reserve University, Ben-Ami conducted research supported by grants from the United States Public Health Service,

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

and from the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...

and co-authored the research results in a paper titled ''Pituitary Role in the Estrogen Dependency of Experimental Mammary Cancer'', which has been cited at least 115 times in other scientific literature. Ben-Ami is an accomplished artist, having entered her paintings in many contests and exhibits over the years, and has also worked as a librarian and a Hebrew language instructor.“Area Teachers Honored.” ''The Detroit Jewish News''. June 16, 1995. Page 21. Digital archive accessed 5/14/2023 at The Detroit Jewish News Digital Archives, University of Michigan. https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1995.06.16.001/22 She currently lives in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

with her second husband, Franklin Ben-Ami.

References

External links

* Cutolo, Morgan. "17 Vintage Photos of What the Miss Universe Pageant Used to Look Like." Reader's Digest. Updated 06/27/2022. https://www.rd.com/list/miss-universe-vintage-photos/ * La'Isha Magazine Covers: https://laishacovers.ynet.co.il/?search=1957#catalog ** 06/18/1957 https://laishacovers.imgix.net/covers/LAI532.jpg?fit=clip&w=580&h=890&q=85000&q=70 ** 06/25/1957 https://laishacovers.imgix.net/covers/LAI533.jpg?fit=clip&w=280&h=375&q=70 ** 07/09/1957 https://laishacovers.imgix.net/covers/LAI535.jpg?fit=clip&w=280&h=375&q=70 ** 07/23/1957 https://laishacovers.imgix.net/covers/LAI537.jpg?fit=clip&w=280&h=375&q=70 ** 08/13/1957 https://laishacovers.imgix.net/covers/LAI540.jpg?fit=clip&w=280&h=375&q=70 ** 01/14/1958 https://laishacovers.imgix.net/covers/LAI562.jpg?fit=clip&w=275&h=400&q=8500&q=70 * Israel Film Archive: Jerusalem Cinematheque jfc.org.il/en/ ; Archived footage of Miss Israel 1957 contest: ** https://jfc.org.il/news_journal/61703-2/105185-2/ ** https://jfc.org.il/en/news_journal/69156-2/94271-2/ ** https://jfc.org.il/en/news_journal/27702-2/119597-2/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Ami, Corinne 20th-century Israeli Jews Miss Israel winners Miss Universe 1957 contestants People from Bucharest Romanian Jews in Israel Israeli emigrants to the United States Case Western Reserve University alumni 1939 births Living people

Early life

Miss Israel Beauty Pageant of 1957

Miss Universe Beauty Pageant of 1957

Personal life

See also

References

External links