The King and I actress Maureen Hingert, a star of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has died at the age of 88 following health complications.
The Sri Lankan actress and Miss Universe runner-up died Sunday of liver failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, California, her daughter Marisa Zamparelli told The Hollywood Reporter.
“It was a beautiful and peaceful passing,” Marisa said.
Hingert was widely known for her work in Walter Lang’s 1956 film, The King and I, adapted from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical of the same name. The musical, which earned nine nominations at the Academy Awards and won five, notably starred Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, and Rita Moreno.
Alongside The King and I, Hingert’s resume also includes roles in Westerns like 1958’s Gun Fever and 1959’s Gunmen From Laredo. She also has appeared in dramas like 1956’s Pillars of the Sky opposite Jeff Chandler and Dorothy Malone, and 1954’s Elephant Walk starring Elizabeth Taylor.
Apart from acting, Hingert also made a legacy as a pageant contestant when she finished second runner-up at the 1955 Miss Universe contest—the first in the competition’s history to ever be televised.
Hingert, who was born in Colombo, Ceylon in January 1937, entered the competition as Miss Ceylon—a historical name for Sri Lanka—and was the first from the country to ever reach the contest’s finals. She was only 18 at the time.
In 1958, Hingert married Mario Armond Zamparelli, a designer largely known for his work with business tycoon and aerospace engineer Howard Hughes. The couple welcomed three children together before their divorce in 1970.
Alongside their daughter Maria, Hingert and Mario also welcomed daughters Gina Zamparelli and Andrea Zamparelli who respectively died in 2018 and 2009.
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