Entertainment Weekly
Maureen Hingert, the Sri Lankan actress and former Miss Universe runner-up contestant who starred in films such as The King and I and Gun Fever, has died. She was 88.
Fellow Sri Lankan actress and model Angela Seneviratne announced Hingert’s death in a Facebook post on Monday.
“May her soul rest in peace,” she added.
Hingert’s daughter, Marisa Zamparelli, later confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that her mother died of liver failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, Calif., on June 29.
“It was a beautiful and peaceful passing,’ she told the outlet.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) in 1937, Hingert was just 18 years old when she was crowned the winner of the Miss Ceylon beauty pageant in 1955.
She would go on to represent her home country at the televised Miss Universe competition in Long Beach, Calif., that same year, where she placed 2nd runner-up.
Her Miss Universe appearance not only landed her a contract with Universal but also an uncredited role in the 1956 Western, Pillars of the Sky.
It wasn’t her first time stepping in front of the camera; Hingert had previous experience starring in uncredited roles in the 1954 films Circus Girl and the Elizabeth Taylor-headlined Elephant Walk while living in Sri Lanka.
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