Marlene Schmidt (born 11 November 1937) is a German

control engineer Control engineering or control systems engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with control systems, applying control theory to design equipment and systems with desired behaviors in control environments. The discipline of controls o ...

, actress, TV host and beauty queen who won

Miss Universe 1961 Miss Universe 1961, the 10th anniversary of the Miss Universe pageant, was held on 15 July 1961 at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Marlene Schmidt of West Germany, Germany was crowned the winner by outgoing title ...

. Born in Breslau, Germany and raised in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, where she earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an 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 practice.

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, in 1960, she and her family fled to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, where she got a job as an

electronics engineer Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active component, active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control e ...

. In 1961, she entered the state pageant of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a 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 inhabitants across a ...

in the hope of winning the car that was offered as 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. History In the past there were several organisations which claimed the title: In the 1920s already, German jurisdiction decided that the tit ...

1961. She then went on to win 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 ...

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 ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series ''Bronco''. Early life Hardin was born in New York City, ...

. 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 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 * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

nomination for its musical score. Eventually Schmidt returned to Germany, where she lives in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

.Official Miss Germany Website
(German)

Filmography

Marlene Schmidt was involved in the following movies as actress and producer: * 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 Shirley. ...

'' ² * 1975: '' Dr. Minx'' ¹ * 1976: '' Scorchy'' ¹ * 1978: ''Texas Detour'' ¹ * 1978: ''

The Fifth Floor ''The Fifth Floor'' is a 1978 American 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 fault of her ...

'' 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 Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...

'' ¹ ¹ actress and producer
² additional writing credit

References

External links

*
Article in Der Spiegel
(2001 / German) 1937 births 20th-century German actresses East German emigrants to West Germany German beauty pageant winners German emigrants to the United States German film actresses Living people Miss Universe 1961 contestants Miss Universe winners Actors from Wrocław {{Europe-pageant-bio-stub German women engineers American women engineers

Filmography

References

Further reading

External links