Miss USA winner who had title stripped dies in LA

[n2doc]

Miss USA winner who had title stripped dies in LA


Saturday, October 9, 2010

(10-09) 17:02 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --

Leona Gage, who in 1957 was named Miss USA but had the title stripped the next day when pageant officials learned she was married and a mother of two, has died in Los Angeles, her son said Saturday. She was 71.

Gage died of heart failure after spending several weeks at a Sherman Oaks hospital on Tuesday, son Robert Kaminer told the Associated Press.

Like Vanessa Williams and Carrie Prejean decades later, Gage's pageant scandal probably brought her more fame than if she had kept the crown.

Born Mary Leona Gage in Texas, she was appeared as Miss Maryland USA in the competition in Long Beach, Calif.
Gage also lied about her age — telling pageant officials she was 21 when she was 18.

She told reporters after winning that she didn't even have a boyfriend.

"I want to wait until I'm 26 before I become seriously interested in the opposite sex," she said, according to the Baltimore Sun.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/10/09/entertainment/e153627D75.DTL

[jaksavage]

1. Two kids at 18

no mistaking it she was not a Miss.

[SoCalDem]

2. That picture is pretty fantastic..

It's not very often that we get a glimpse of attractive, natural-looking women.

Notice the lack of stage-makeup, and curves that are not silicone-enhanced.

[n2doc]

3. Some pretty heavy eyebrow work there

But seriously, I was also struck by the changes in our apparent standards of beauty. None of those women would be considered curvy enough nowadays.