Bess Myerson
Bess Myerson (born July 16, 1924 in the Bronx , New York - † December 14, 2014 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American actress, model and politician. She was the first Jewish Miss America in 1945 .
Life
Myerson grew up with her family in the Sholem Aleichem Cooperative. This was a residential community which included 250 Jewish, politically liberal working class families. Her parents, Louis and Bella Myerson, were Russian immigrants and raised Bess and her sisters Sylvia and Helen during the Great Depression . Myerson learned to play the piano and the flute in high school. After school she attended Hunter College and graduated in music in 1945. Her sister Sylvia registered Myerson for the Miss America competition, which was successful. Many advised her to change her last name so that she could not be recognized immediately as a Jew. But she was not deterred and won with her family name. Three out of five sponsors that the winner was supposed to promote did not want a Jewish woman to represent them. After the experience, she spoke for the Anti-Defamation League against Racism.
Myerson married Allan Wayne on October 19, 1946 and had their daughter Barbara on December 31, 1947 a year later. She began her television career in The Big Payoff , in which she starred from 1951 to 1959 and became known as "Lady in Mink". From 1954 to 1968 she hosted the Miss America competition. She and her husband Allan Wayne divorced in 1956 and began a custody battle over their child. She also appeared regularly as a participant in I've Got a Secret from 1958 to 1967 . On May 2, 1962, Myerson married Arnold Grant, a noted finance and tax attorney. He adopted her daughter, who was now called Barra Grant. Bess Myerson became active in urban politics and was appointed Commissioner for the Department of Consumers of New York City by Mayor John Lindsay . From 1969 to 1973, she became the most famous city civil servant alongside the mayor. During her tenure, New York had the most far-reaching consumer protection law in America. Myerson wrote The Complete Consumer book in 1979. She also wrote a second book, The I Love New York Diet with Bill Adler in 1982, which was listed on the New York Times Best Seller List.
Web links
- Bess Myerson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bess Myerson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/myerson-bess
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Myerson, Bess |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actress, model and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 16, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bronx , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 14, 2014 |
| Place of death | Santa Monica , California |