Hillevi Rombin

Pageant titleholder bio
birthname=Hillevi A.K. Rombin
photo=
caption=
title= Miss Sweden 1955
Miss Universe 1955
nationalcompetition=Miss Sweden 1955 (winner)
Miss Universe 1955 (winner)
birth = birth date |1933|9|14
location= Uppsala, Sweden
death_date = Death date and age|1996|6|19|1933|9|14 | death_place =
height=
eye color= blue
hair color= blonde

Hillevi A.K. Rombin Schine, (September 14 1933 – June 19 1996), crowned as Miss Sweden and is the fourth winner of Miss Universe in 1955. As of 2008, she is the only deceased Miss Universe title holder since the pageant's inception.

Biography

She grew up in Uppsala, and was the Swedish national decathlon champion before she competed in the pageant. A remarkable athlete, Rombin excelled in gymnastics, track & field, and downhill snow skiing. After winning the pageant, she left Sweden for Hollywood to fulfill her acting contract with Universal Pictures, part of the prize package as Miss Universe. She studied acting along with John Gavin, Clint Eastwood, and Barbara Eden, among the other contract actors also in training. Universal put her in a couple films, with just one or two lines, to give her some exposure and experience. She can be seen in "The Benny Goodman Story" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047873/maindetails] (1955) as someone who asks for an autograph and in "Istanbul" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050552/maindetails] (1957) as a flight attendant near the end; she has small speaking roles in both films and her name can be seen in the credits. Before she would get any further with acting, she left it when she married.

During her year reign as Miss Universe, while traveling around the U.S., she met her future husband G. David Schine, whose family was in the hotel business and would later himself be in the film and music businesses. She would not pursue an acting career and instead married, soon starting a large family with Schine. They married in 1957, went on to have six children, and were married for almost 40 years until their deaths together in 1996. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=G. David Schine Is Married |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F16FA3955137A93C1AB178BD95F438585F9&scp=2&sq=%22G.+David+Schine%22&st=p |quote= |publisher=New York Times |date=October 23, 1957 |accessdate=2008-03-11 ]

She, her husband, and one of their sons died in a plane crash in 1996, the result of an engine failure shortly after take off. She was 62 years old and the first Miss Universe to pass away. She and her husband and son are buried together at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Crash Kills G. David Schine, 69, McCarthy-Era Figure |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E1DC1E39F932A15755C0A960958260&scp |quote=In 1957, Mr. Schine married Hillevi A. K. Rombin, a native of Aofta, Sweden, who was a Swedish national decathlon champion before becoming Miss Universe of 1955. The couple leave five children: Mark, the twin of Berndt; Vidette Perry, Kevin, Axel and Lance. Also surviving are four grandchildren. |publisher=New York Times |date=June 21, 1996 |accessdate=2008-03-11 ]

References

External links

* [http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Schine&GRid=23265& Find A Grave page for Hillevi Rombin]
* [http://www.pageant.com/universe97/images/hs145h.jpgPicture as Miss Universe]
*imdb name|0739153
* [http://HilleviRombin.com "The Official Hillevi Rombin Website"]