Marjorie Wallace
Encyclopedia
Marjorie Wallace is an American model, actress, beauty queen and television presenter. In 1973
, Wallace made history as the first American to be crowned Miss World
. But just 104 days later, pageant officials stunned the UK when they announced Wallace would be the first Miss World to have her title taken from her. Years later, Wallace helped launch the groundbreaking American syndicated showbiz TV program Entertainment Tonight
as an original co-host.
, where her family ran an industrial supply business and raised her in the suburbs, she told People
magazine. With a population of about 740,000 in 1970, "dancing at the Holiday Inn
was the biggest thing in town," she joked.
When she was 14, her parents divorced and Wallace was already showing her wild side, People reported. Once she suddenly took off with a girlfriend on a 1,200-mile roadtrip to Miami, Florida
. But her teen years also included typical high school pursuits -- such as competitive swimming and cheerleading, according to the magazine. Men began to play a larger role in her life. At age 17 she found herself smitten enough to move in with a guitarist in the Indy rock band "Pure Funk."
"My mother always says that if I ever have a daughter, I deserve to have one like myself," she told People in 1976.
Wallace also began traveling the 180 miles between Indianapolis and Chicago, Illinois, to work as a model. A modeling agent pushed her to enter the Miss Indiana World and Miss World USA beauty pageants, which she won, opening the door to the 1973 Miss World contest in London
.
Wallace's decision to compete in the London pageant triggered a series of life-changing tragedies during the following year, which would be marked by disappointment, death and a serious overdose of drugs.
as the first American to be crowned Miss World.
During her time in the UK, the British tabloids were full of reports and photos describing Wallace's dates with a string of celebrities including Tom Jones
, Northern Irish soccer star George Best
, and American Indianapolis 500
and Formula One
driver Peter Revson
, with whom she was reportedly engaged to be married. According to People, this violated Wallace's Miss World contract, which prompted pageant authorities to take away her title on March 7, 1974. Contest officials announced Wallace "had failed to fulfill the basic requirements of the job."
First runner-up, Evangeline Pascual of the Philippines was not offered the title but only the winner's official duties. The second runner-up, Patricia Teresa Yuen Leung of Jamaica accepted the offer to complete the Miss World duties without being officially crowned as Miss World. Pageant officials would later say that a decision was made by the Miss World organization to not offer the title to any of the runners-up.
. Revson was exiting a turn at more than 110 mph when his car “shot off” the track, “flipped end-over-end and burst into flames,” the Associated Press
reported. The vehicle “was still burning when we turned it over and lifted him out,” famed British driver Graham Hill — who would die in November the next year while piloting a small airplane — told AP. “… we managed to keep the flames … away from Revson while we got him out.” He died en route to a hospital, according to People. Revson was wearing a gold locket Wallace had given him, People reported. The locket was engraved, “If not for you ..."
Wallace attended Revson's closed-casket funeral at Manhattan’s Unitarian Church of All Souls
. The event was attended by about 350 people including 1972 Indy 500 champion Mark Donohue
, who would also die in a racing crash the next year.
after Wallace's sister Nancy found her in her apartment unconscious, apparently the victim of an overdose of the sleeping pill doriden, according the AP. One doctor told the AP Wallace was “comatose, and in pretty bad shape.” Doctors put her on a dialysis machine to clear her kidneys, the AP reported.
“She might have felt like she couldn’t go on,” Wallace's mother was quoted by Alabama’s Florence Times Daily.
Despite her mother's speculation, Wallace told People two years later, "I was depressed and OD'd on a few too many sleeping pills. I never attempted suicide."
with Robert Blake
and Get Christie Love!
with Teresa Graves
. Wallace also appeared as a panelist on the smash daytime TV game show, Match Game
73.
By 1976, Wallace was back in the news in a celebrity romance. She moved into the Los Angeles
apartment of eight-time Grand-Slam tennis champ Jimmy Connors
following the destruction of his high-profile relationship with 18-time Grand-Slam winner Chris Evert
, according to the Miami News.
“Marji (sic) and I don’t even have to talk to each other if we don’t feel like it,” Connors reportedly said. “But I feel I have found someone to share the things I like, and that makes it all worthwhile.” Connors, Wallace said, was “a fantastic person. A very different person off the court.”
The relationship with the tennis star didn't last long. After the breakup, Wallace moved to New York where she auditioned for TV sportscasting positions with ABC
and CBS
, according to People. She also appeared in TV commercials for Ultra Brite
toothpaste, Wella
products and American Express
.
In the summer of '77 Marjorie met film producer Michael Klein at a Beverly Hills party, People reported. They didn't hit it off at the beginning. Wallace told the magazine, "I thought, 'Here is the epitome of the kind of guy I can't stand—a guy who dates a new girl every three days.'"
People quoted Klein saying he was turned off by Wallace's fur coat, red boots and heavy makeup. "She looked like a magazine cover, and I had no interest in going out with a magazine cover," Klein told People.
By May 1978 they were wed. Parade magazine reported Klein's father was Eugene V. Klein
, owner of the NFL's San Diego Chargers
. The marriage yielded a son named Adam.
.
ET eventually would change how TV reported the entertainment industry and it would create success for future hosts such as John Tesh
, Maria Menounos
and Mary Hart
. Wallace was not destined to be one of those names. Just months after ET's debut, producers decided to make a change, offering Wallace a reporter position on the program, which she declined.
In 1982, Wallace's marriage with Klein ended in divorce. Soon after, newspapers reported she was dating Richard Cohen, the then-estranged husband of Tina Sinatra
.
Miss World 1973
The 23rd Annual Miss World pageant was held at the Royal Albert Hall on November 23, 1973. Fifty-four delegates vied for the crown won by an American, Marjorie Wallace of Indiana.Pageant Controversy...
, Wallace made history as the first American to be crowned Miss World
Miss World
The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...
. But just 104 days later, pageant officials stunned the UK when they announced Wallace would be the first Miss World to have her title taken from her. Years later, Wallace helped launch the groundbreaking American syndicated showbiz TV program Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
as an original co-host.
Early life
Wallace was born in Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, where her family ran an industrial supply business and raised her in the suburbs, she told People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine. With a population of about 740,000 in 1970, "dancing at the Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
was the biggest thing in town," she joked.
When she was 14, her parents divorced and Wallace was already showing her wild side, People reported. Once she suddenly took off with a girlfriend on a 1,200-mile roadtrip to Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. But her teen years also included typical high school pursuits -- such as competitive swimming and cheerleading, according to the magazine. Men began to play a larger role in her life. At age 17 she found herself smitten enough to move in with a guitarist in the Indy rock band "Pure Funk."
"My mother always says that if I ever have a daughter, I deserve to have one like myself," she told People in 1976.
Wallace also began traveling the 180 miles between Indianapolis and Chicago, Illinois, to work as a model. A modeling agent pushed her to enter the Miss Indiana World and Miss World USA beauty pageants, which she won, opening the door to the 1973 Miss World contest in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Wallace's decision to compete in the London pageant triggered a series of life-changing tragedies during the following year, which would be marked by disappointment, death and a serious overdose of drugs.
The world stage
On November 23, 1973, Wallace defeated 53 competitors at Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
as the first American to be crowned Miss World.
During her time in the UK, the British tabloids were full of reports and photos describing Wallace's dates with a string of celebrities including Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Northern Irish soccer star George Best
George Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
, and American Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
and Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
driver Peter Revson
Peter Revson
Peter Jeffrey Revson was an American race car driver who had successes in Formula One and the Indianapolis 500.-Background:Peter Revson was born in New York City, the son of Julie and Martin Revson....
, with whom she was reportedly engaged to be married. According to People, this violated Wallace's Miss World contract, which prompted pageant authorities to take away her title on March 7, 1974. Contest officials announced Wallace "had failed to fulfill the basic requirements of the job."
First runner-up, Evangeline Pascual of the Philippines was not offered the title but only the winner's official duties. The second runner-up, Patricia Teresa Yuen Leung of Jamaica accepted the offer to complete the Miss World duties without being officially crowned as Miss World. Pageant officials would later say that a decision was made by the Miss World organization to not offer the title to any of the runners-up.
Personal loss
Only 15 days after Wallace was stripped of her crown, Revson was killed in a fiery crash while practicing for the South African Grand PrixSouth African Grand Prix
The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Eastern Cape Province...
. Revson was exiting a turn at more than 110 mph when his car “shot off” the track, “flipped end-over-end and burst into flames,” the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported. The vehicle “was still burning when we turned it over and lifted him out,” famed British driver Graham Hill — who would die in November the next year while piloting a small airplane — told AP. “… we managed to keep the flames … away from Revson while we got him out.” He died en route to a hospital, according to People. Revson was wearing a gold locket Wallace had given him, People reported. The locket was engraved, “If not for you ..."
Wallace attended Revson's closed-casket funeral at Manhattan’s Unitarian Church of All Souls
Unitarian Church of All Souls
The Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City was the first Unitarian Universalist church in New York City. It is one of the largest and most influential congregations in the United States...
. The event was attended by about 350 people including 1972 Indy 500 champion Mark Donohue
Mark Donohue
Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972...
, who would also die in a racing crash the next year.
Overdose
Less than three months later, Wallace was rushed to St. Vincent Indianapolis HospitalSt. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital
St. Vincent Hospital is a hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. It is the flagship installation of St. Vincent Health which operates 20 facilities over 46 Indiana counties and is one of the largest ministries in the Catholic health care organization Ascension Health.-History:The Daughters of...
after Wallace's sister Nancy found her in her apartment unconscious, apparently the victim of an overdose of the sleeping pill doriden, according the AP. One doctor told the AP Wallace was “comatose, and in pretty bad shape.” Doctors put her on a dialysis machine to clear her kidneys, the AP reported.
“She might have felt like she couldn’t go on,” Wallace's mother was quoted by Alabama’s Florence Times Daily.
Despite her mother's speculation, Wallace told People two years later, "I was depressed and OD'd on a few too many sleeping pills. I never attempted suicide."
TV career
After the overdose, life appeared to improve for the troubled beauty queen. According to imdb.com, Wallace won TV acting roles on some of the top shows of the 1970s, including BarettaBaretta
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma...
with Robert Blake
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
and Get Christie Love!
Get Christie Love!
Get Christie Love! is a 1974 made-for-television film starring Teresa Graves as an undercover female police detective who is determined to overthrow a drug ring. This film is based on Dorothy Uhnak's crime-thriller novel, The Ledger...
with Teresa Graves
Teresa Graves
Teresa Graves was an American actress and singer. As the star of Get Christie Love!, Graves is credited as being the first African American woman to star in her own hour long drama television series....
. Wallace also appeared as a panelist on the smash daytime TV game show, Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
73.
By 1976, Wallace was back in the news in a celebrity romance. She moved into the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
apartment of eight-time Grand-Slam tennis champ Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors
James Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
following the destruction of his high-profile relationship with 18-time Grand-Slam winner Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
, according to the Miami News.
“Marji (sic) and I don’t even have to talk to each other if we don’t feel like it,” Connors reportedly said. “But I feel I have found someone to share the things I like, and that makes it all worthwhile.” Connors, Wallace said, was “a fantastic person. A very different person off the court.”
The relationship with the tennis star didn't last long. After the breakup, Wallace moved to New York where she auditioned for TV sportscasting positions with ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, according to People. She also appeared in TV commercials for Ultra Brite
Ultra Brite
Ultra Brite is an American toothpaste and tooth-whitener marketed by Colgate-Palmolive in the United States. Ultra Brite gained popularity during the 1970's with a commercial that stated, "Ultra Brite gives your mouth...[bling]...sex appeal!" It was introduced as an imitator of Maclean's adult...
toothpaste, Wella
Wella
Wella is a German company, and one of the world’s leading cosmetics suppliers. Founded in 1880 by Franz Stroher, with its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, the company is represented in over 150 countries....
products and American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
.
In the summer of '77 Marjorie met film producer Michael Klein at a Beverly Hills party, People reported. They didn't hit it off at the beginning. Wallace told the magazine, "I thought, 'Here is the epitome of the kind of guy I can't stand—a guy who dates a new girl every three days.'"
People quoted Klein saying he was turned off by Wallace's fur coat, red boots and heavy makeup. "She looked like a magazine cover, and I had no interest in going out with a magazine cover," Klein told People.
By May 1978 they were wed. Parade magazine reported Klein's father was Eugene V. Klein
Eugene V. Klein
Eugene Victor Klein was an American businessman who was Chairman of the Board of Directors and chief stockholder of National General Corp., an insurance and entertainment company based in Los Angeles, California...
, owner of the NFL's San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. The marriage yielded a son named Adam.
Entertainment Tonight
Then — in 1981 — came what could have been a life-changing career break. Wallace was tapped to co-anchor a new 30-minute syndicated showbiz TV show based in Hollywood called Entertainment TonightEntertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
.
ET eventually would change how TV reported the entertainment industry and it would create success for future hosts such as John Tesh
John Tesh
John Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...
, Maria Menounos
Maria Menounos
Maria Menounos is a Greek-American actress, journalist, and television presenter known in America for her appearances as a correspondent for Today, Access Hollywood, Extra, and abroad for co-hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece.-Early life and beauty pageants:Menounos, a...
and Mary Hart
Mary Hart
Mary Hart is an American television personality and was the host of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up program Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2011.-Early life:...
. Wallace was not destined to be one of those names. Just months after ET's debut, producers decided to make a change, offering Wallace a reporter position on the program, which she declined.
In 1982, Wallace's marriage with Klein ended in divorce. Soon after, newspapers reported she was dating Richard Cohen, the then-estranged husband of Tina Sinatra
Tina Sinatra
Christina "Tina" Sinatra is the youngest child of Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. Christina's parents divorced when she was three years old...
.