Amanda Clara Jones (born October 28, 1950) is an American actress, former model and beauty pageant titleholder who won

Miss USA 1973 Miss USA 1973 was the 22nd Miss USA pageant, televised live by CBS from Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling ...

and then represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Miss Universe 1973 Miss Universe 1973, the 22nd Miss Universe pageant, was held on 21 July 1973 at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece. Margarita Moran of the Philippines was crowned by Kerry Anne Wells of Australia at the end of the event, thus making ...

where she placed 1st Runner-up. Jones was crowned

Miss Illinois USA The Miss Illinois USA pageant is a competition that selects the representative for the state Illinois in the Miss USA pageant. It is directed by Vanbros and Associates and is previously directed by D&D Productions from 2001 to 2014 before bec ...

1973 and later represented

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in the

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

1973 pageant held in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She won the Miss USA title and was crowned by outgoing titleholder

Tanya Wilson Tanya Denise Wilson (born June 13, 1950) is an American beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1972. Wilson had previously been crowned Miss Hawaii USA 1972, and placed in the top twelve at Miss Universe 1972, where she represented ...

. Her prize money included a $7,500 cash prize and a $7,500 appearance contract. She was the third of four delegates from Illinois to win the Miss USA title. She wore a custom designed white chiffon dress designed by Alyce Hamm of Alyce Designs. The year following her win she crowned fellow Illinois' titleholder

Karen Morrison Karen Jean Morrison-Comstock (born August 4, 1954) is an American model and beauty queen from St. Charles, Illinois who held the Miss USA 1974 title. Pageants Comstock entered the Miss Illinois USA pageant at the suggestion of her modeling agency ...

as the new Miss USA, only the second time that a state had won consecutive titles. In July, Jones competed in the

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

1973 pageant in

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

where she placed 1st runner-up to

Margarita Moran Maria Margarita Roxas Moran-Floirendo (born 15 September 1953), professionally known as Margie Moran (), is a Filipino beauty queen, actress and peace advocate who was the president of Ballet Philippines and is the chairperson of the Cultural ...

of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Jones was an aspiring local commercial model, and only applied for the

pageant at the behest of her modelling agent. Despite her attempts to get out of this pageant Jones not only competed but won. She again was reluctant to compete in the Miss USA pageant which she won. Jones took on her responsibilities on her terms. Unlike previous titleholders, Jones was an outspoken supporter of

Women's Lib The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

and had marched in peace rallies. She declared she was pro-choice on

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

and against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. She appears under a pseudonym in Studs Terkel's 1980 book ''American Dreams: Lost & Found'' where she recalled Jones studied at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

but dropped out in 1971 to pursue an acting career.

References

External links

Miss USA official website
*
Ms. Jones' appearance on ''So You Think You Know Chicago?''
at

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (also known as FuzzyMemoriesTV) is an online museum dedicated to the preservation of Chicago television broadcasts. Most of the museum's footage originates from "airchecks" of local Chicago channels (and t ...

1951 births Evanston Township High School alumni Living people Miss Universe 1973 contestants Miss USA winners People from Evanston, Illinois {{US-model-stub