Maureen Hingert, 'King and I 'actress and former Miss Universe contestant, dies at 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.
That same year, she took on another uncredited role as a wife in the 1956 musical adaptation of The King and I. The film — which also starred Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, and Rita Moreno —would go on to win five Academy Awards.
Hingert wouldn't receive her first official acting credit until she starred in an episode of the 1957 Wally Cox- and Ainslie Pryor-led sitcom, The Adventures of Hiram Holliday. Working under the name Jana Davi, she continued to rack up credits in popular Westerns like Gun Fever, The Rawhide Trail, and Gunmen from Laredo before retiring from acting in the early 1960s.
In addition to her acting and modeling careers, Hingert was also a dancer and would often perform in Los Angeles. She married designer and artist Mario Armond Zamparelli in 1958, and the couple welcomed three daughters together — Gina, Marisa, and Andrea — before getting divorced in 1970. She later tied the knot with William J. Ballard in 1976, and the couple remained together until his death in 2012.
Hingert is survived by her daughter, Marisa. Her daughter Andrea died at 42 in 2009, per THR. Her second daughter Gina, a concert promoter and preservationist, died of a brain tumor at age 59 in 2017.
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