Trailblazer Jo-Carroll Dennison, Miss Texas 1941 and the oldest-surviving woman to be crowned Miss America, has died. She was 97.
Dennison, a swimsuit category winner who defied World War II-era conventions by refusing to parade in a swimsuit during her year-long reign, passed away at her home in California in late October, her friend and book editor Evan Mills confirmed to CNN on Monday.
Born in 1923 in Florence, Arizona, Dennison grew up in her parents’ traveling “medicine show,” in which she sang, dance and rode trick horses. She was training as a secretary before being scouted for the Miss Tyler pageant in Tyler, Texas.
Dennison wrote in her memoir “Finding My Little Red Hat” — published in September 2021 — that she had “sworn never to perform in public again” following those medicine show days. However, she eventually agreed to compete in the pageant on the promise of a free swimsuit from a high-end department store. After winning, she went on to nab the Miss East Texas and Miss Texas titles, before competing in — and winning — Miss America in 1942 at 18.
“The Miss America Organization is saddened to hear of the passing of Miss America 1942, Jo-Carroll Dennison,” pageant officials posted on Instagram. “We thank her for her year of service and will miss her dearly.”
Speaking at the Miss America Organization’s 100th anniversary gala on September 7, Dennison praised them for canning the swimsuit portion of competition in 2018, in lieu of celebrating the “totality” of individuals.
“Back in 1942, the pageant was supposed to be about looks,” she revealed in a video now posted to Youtube. “Yet, I never thought I had won because of the way I looked, but rather because of the way I felt about myself. With this in mind, I flat out refused to wear my bathing suit onstage after the pageant.”
As part of her reign she joined the war effort by selling war bonds and visiting soldiers on hospitals and camps to help boost morale.
“Miss America was a tangible symbol of the country [they] had enlisted to defend,” Dennison said at the gala, arguing that it was the patriotic symbolism of her title — and not swimsuits — that impressed soldiers most. “It was their vision of democracy that made their hearts pound and bodies tingle.”
Like many beauty queens of the era, Dennison signed a movie deal. During her time under contract at 20th Century Fox, she appeared in films such as 1946’s “The Jolson Story” and 1950’s “Dick Tracy,” in which she played Breathless Mahoney, a role later made famous by Madonna opposite Warren Beaty.
She married Emmy-winning comic actor Phil Silvers in 1945 and divorced five years later. After failing to break-through to major stardom, she retired from the screen in 1953.
“It is stunning how poorly women have been treated in the American culture,” Dennison wrote in her autobiography, revealing she was sexually assaulted at 12 and expressing support for the #MeToo movement.
She later married CBS producer and director Russell Stoneham (“Playhouse 90,” “Barnaby Jones” and “Streets of San Francisco”) in 1954. They separated in the 1970s and divorced in 1981.
She is survived by their two children.