Miss Universe 1970 was the 19th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, on 11 July 1970.
At the conclusion of the event, Gloria Diaz of the Philippines crowned Marisol Malaret of Puerto Rico as Miss Universe 1970. It is the first victory of Puerto Rico in the competition.
Contestants from sixty-three countries and territories participated in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Bob Barker in his fourth consecutive year, while June Lockhart provided commentary and analysis throughout the event.
Background Queen of Expo '70 Prior to the competition in Miami Beach, fifty-four candidates traveled to Osaka, Japan, for the Queen of Expo '70 pageant, which took place at the 1970 Osaka Exposition on 20 June 1970. Not all candidates participated in the pageant, and the results did not influence their scores in the official competition in Miami. This event was intended as an experiment featuring computer judges rather than human ones. Josephine Wong from Malaysia was crowned the winner of the pageant.
Selection of participants Contestants from sixty-three countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals This edition saw the debut of the Czechoslovakia, and the returns of Portugal which last competed in 1965; Panama and Paraguay in 1967; and Lebanon, which last competed in 1968.
Despite competing at the Queen of Expo '70 pageant, Miss Thailand 1969, Warunee Sangsirinavin was disqualified for not meeting the minimum age requirement. She competed a year later. Snežana Džambas of Yugoslavia withdrew for health reasons which caused her not compete at the preliminary competition. Bonaire withdrew for financial reasons.
Results
Placements Placement Contestant Miss Universe 1970 – Marisol Malaret 1st Runner-Up – Deborah Shelton 2nd Runner-Up Australia – Joan Zealand 3rd Runner-Up – Jun Shimada 4th Runner-Up Argentina – Beatriz Gross Top 15 – Eliane Thompson – Kristina Hanzalová – Angelique Bourlessa – Hilary Best – Mabel Hawkett Italy – Anna Zamboni – Josephine Wong – Britt-Inger Johansson – Diane Roth – Bella La Rosa
Special awards Award Contestant Miss Amity – Hilary Best Miss Photogenic – Margaret Hill Best National Costume – Roxana Brown Queen of Expo '70 – Josephine Wong Top 10 Best in Swimsuit Argentina – Beatriz Gross Australia – Joan Zealand – Eliane Thompson – Kristina Hanzalová – Maureen Renzen – Jun Shimada – Josephine Wong – Marisol Malaret – Britt-Inger Johansson – Deborah Shelton
Pageant Format Same with 1966, fifteen semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Each of the fifteen semi-finalists were individually interviewed by Bob Barker. Following the interviews, the fifteen semi-finalists participated in the swimsuit and evening gown competitions. From fifteen, five contestants were shortlisted to advance to the final interview.
Selection committee Julio Alemán – Mexican actor Pearl Bailey – American actress and singer Eileen Ford – American model and founder of Ford Models Yousuf Karsh – Armenian-Canadian photographer Dong Kingman – Chinese-American painter David Merrick – American theatre producer Line Renaud – French actress and singer Corinna Tsopei – Miss Universe 1964 from Greece Edilson Cid Varela – Brazilian journalist Earl Wilson – American columnist and journalist
Contestants Sixty-three contestants competed for the title. Country/Territory Contestant Age Hometown Argentina 21 Buenos Aires Aruba 20 Oranjestad Australia 24 Sydney Austria 19 Linz Bahamas 19 Nassau Belgium 20 Liège Bermuda 21 Hamilton Bolivia 18 La Paz Brazil 20 Piraí Canada 19 Prince Edward Island Ceylon 22 Colombo Chile 19 Santiago Colombia 18 Antioquia Costa Rica 18 Cartago Curaçao 21 Willemstad Czechoslovakia 20 Bratislava Democratic Republic of the Congo 22 Kinshasa Denmark 23 Copenhagen Dominican Republic 18 Valverde Ecuador 18 Portoviejo England 21 Nantwich Finland 20Rovaniemi France 23 Paris Greece 23 Athens Guam 18 Yigo Holland 19 The Hague Honduras 18 Cortés Hong Kong 18 Hong Kong Iceland 19 Reykjavík India 23 Bombay Ireland 21 Fermanagh Israel 20 Ramat Gan Italy 18 Turin Jamaica 23 Kingston Japan 21 Tokyo Lebanon 20 Beirut Luxembourg 18 Esch-sur-Alzette Malaysia 18 Ipoh Malta 18 Birkirkara Mexico 18 Sinaloa New Zealand 19 Auckland Nicaragua 18 León Norway 22 Bergen Panama 18 Santiago Paraguay 18 Paraguarí Peru 21 Arequipa Philippines 19 Pasay Portugal 21 Lisbon Puerto Rico 20 Santurce Scotland 19 Wishaw Singapore 21 Singapore South Korea 18 Seoul Spain 19 Canary Islands Suriname 20 Paramaribo Sweden 19 Kalmar Switzerland 18 Geneva Tunisia 18 Tunis Turkey 18 Istanbul United States 21 Norfolk Uruguay 22 Montevideo Venezuela 20 Carabobo Wales 21 Carmarthen West Germany 22 Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Notes
References
External links
Official website