Nancy Anne Fleming (born May 20, 1942) is an American

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

titleholder who was crowned Miss America 1961 on September 10, 1960.

Education

Fleming graduated from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1964 and earned a teaching certificate from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1966. She is listed as one of Michigan State University's "Accomplished Women Graduates." During her freshman year at MSU, she lived in West Landon Hall on the North Campus, a dormitory for women. Her time at the school was sometimes troubled. Later, she said, "I felt like a freak at MSU. I had just been on television three days before and I entered with a lot of fanfare. There was a lot of weirdness and rudeness. I was pointed out and stared at. It was really creepy."

Pageantry

A native of Montague, Michigan, Fleming competed in the

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

pageant as Miss Michigan. She competed in the Miss Michigan pageant as Miss White Lake.

Career

Before entering show business, Fleming worked as an elementary school teacher. She later worked in the entertainment industry, as a program host and interviewer for ABC-TV, Cable Health Network (now Lifetime) and PBS. She appeared in an episode of ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series pre ...

'' in 1984, along with

Jean Bartel Jean Bartel (born Jean Bartlemeh; October 26, 1923 – March 6, 2011) was Miss California and Miss America 1943. Early life Bartel was from Los Angeles, California. She was born Jean Bartlemeh; later her name was shortened to Bartel. Pageant ...

, Miss America 1943; Marian McKnight, Miss America 1957; and Vanessa L. Williams, Miss America 1984.

Personal life

Fleming's first husband was William Frederic Johnson. In 1978, Fleming married Jim Lange, a radio and television personality; their marriage lasted until his death in 2014. Fleming has two children from her first marriage: Ingrid and Steig. Fleming also has three stepchildren from her marriage to Lange: Nick, Romney, and Gavin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Nancy 1942 births Living people Miss America 1960s delegates Miss America Preliminary Talent winners Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners Miss America winners People from Montague, Michigan Michigan State University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni