| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Birth name | Hillevi A.K. Rombin |
|---|---|
| Birthdate | September 14, 1933 |
| Birthplace | Uppsala, Sweden |
| Date of death | June 19, 1996 (aged 62) |
| Eye color | blue |
| Hair color | blonde |
| Title(s) | Miss Sweden 1955 Miss Universe 1955 |
| Major competition(s) | Miss Sweden 1955 (winner) Miss Universe 1955 (winner) |
Hillevi Schine, (née Rombin) (September 14, 1933 – June 19, 1996), crowned as Miss Sweden and is the fourth winner of Miss Universe in 1955. As of 2009, she is the only deceased Miss Universe title holder since the pageant's inception.
She grew up in Uppsala, Uppland 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 [1] (1955) as someone who asks for an autograph and in Istanbul [2] (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 disontinued her acting career in order to focus on married life, soon starting a large family with Schine. After their 1957 wedding, they went on to have six children, and their marriage lasted almost 40 years until their deaths together in 1996.[1]
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.[2]
| Preceded by Miriam Stevenson |
Miss
Universe 1955 |
Succeeded by Carol Morris |
   | Find A Grave page for Hillevi Rombin - Hillevi Rombin Schine (1933 - 1996) - Find A Grave Memorial |
| | G. David Schine Is Married - G. David Schine Is Married - Free Preview - The New York Times |
| | Crash Kills G. David Schine, 69, McCarthy-Era Figure - Crash Kills G. David Schine, 69, McCarthy-Era Figure - The New York Times |
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