Marlene Schmidt (born 11 November 1937) is a German
control engineer,
actress, television host, and beauty queen who won
Miss Universe 1961.
Life
Born in Breslau, Germany and raised in
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
, where she earned a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
. In 1960, she and her family risked their lives fleeing to
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
in
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
, where she got a job as an
electronics engineer. In 1961, she entered the state pageant of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
in the hope of winning the car that was offered as a prize. From there, she went on to represent her state in the national pageant in
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
, where she was crowned
Miss Germany
Miss Germany is a national beauty pageant in Germany. The contest was held for the first time in 1927. Since 2020 it is used to honour women with special achievements.
History
In the past there were several organisations which claimed the tit ...
in 1961. She then went on to win 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 against 47 other participants. She was at that time the tenth consecutive German entrant to reach the semifinals of the event (then a record) and is the first (and to date only) German to be crowned Miss Universe.
In 1962, Schmidt became the third of eight wives of the American actor
Ty Hardin
Ty Hardin (born Orison Whipple Hungerford Jr.; January 1, 1930August 3, 2017) was an American actor best known as the star of the 1958 to 1962 American Broadcasting Company, ABC/Warner Brothers Television, Warner Bros. Western (genre), Western ...
. They settled in the United States. The marriage lasted until 1966. They had one daughter, Schmidt's only child.
She continued her engineering career for a while, and in 1967 was a technical consultant for Sier-Bath Gear Co, New Jersey.
From 1972 to 1986, Schmidt was involved in the movie industry, where she acquired credits as an actress, producer and writer in eleven productions. None of the films achieved particular merit for plot or other production values apart from generally offering a liberal dose of female nudity, albeit the 1972 skin-fest ''The Stepmother'' distinguished itself by receiving an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People and fictional and mythical characters
* Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar
* Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...
nomination for its musical score.
Eventually Schmidt returned to Germany, where she lives in
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
.
Official Miss Germany Website
(German)
Filmography
Marlene Schmidt was involved in the following movies as actress and producer:
* 1968: ''Red Plain''
* 1972: '' The Stepmother'' ¹
* 1974: '' The Teacher'' ¹
* 1975: ''The Specialist
''The Specialist'' is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Luis Llosa and starring Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger. It is loosely based on "The Specialist" series of novels by John ...
'' ²
* 1975: '' Dr. Minx'' ¹
* 1976: '' Scorchy'' ¹
* 1978: ''Texas Detour'' ¹
* 1978: ''The Fifth Floor
''The Fifth Floor'' is a 1978 American thriller film about a sane woman who gets sent to an asylum. It stars Dianne Hull, Bo Hopkins and Mel Ferrer.
Plot
The film focuses on Kelly McIntyre, a disco dancer played by Dianne Hull who through no fau ...
'' ²
* 1981: ''Separate Ways'' ²
* 1983: ''Mortuary
A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...
'' ¹
* 1984: '' They're Playing with Fire'' ²
* 1986: '' Kidnapped'' ¹
¹ actress and producer
² additional writing credit
References
Further reading
* Veit Didczuneit, Dirk Külow: ''Miss Germany. Die deutsche Schönheitskönigin.'' S & L MedienContor, Hamburg, 1998;
External links
*
Article in Der Spiegel
(2001 / German)
1937 births
20th-century German actresses
East German emigrants to West Germany
German beauty pageant winners
Emigrants from West Germany to the United States
German film actresses
Living people
Miss Universe 1961 contestants
Miss Universe winners
Actresses from Wrocław
20th-century German women engineers
20th-century German engineers
American women engineers
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