Miss Universe 1977

Miss Universe 1977
Date July 16, 1977
Presenters Bob Barker, Helen O'Connell
Entertainment Trío Los Juglares featuring Fernando Casado
Venue National Theater, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Entrants 80
Placements 12
Debuts Antigua, British Virgin Islands, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Réunion, , St. Kitts, St. Lucia
Withdraws Guatemala, Luxembourg, Turkey
Returns Belize, Haiti, Lebanon, Tahiti
Winner Janelle Commissiong
 Trinidad & Tobago
Congeniality Pamela Mercer
 Canada
Best National Costume Kim Sung-Hee
 South Korea
Photogenic Janelle Commissiong
 Trinidad & Tobago

Miss Universe 1977, the 26th annual Miss Universe pageant was held at the National Theater, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on July 16, 1977. 24-year-old Janelle Commissiong earned Trinidad & Tobago its first Miss Universe crown as well as becoming the first black woman to win the title. She was crowned by Rina Messinger of Israel.

Miss Universe was then owned by Gulf+Western Industries, an American conglomerate which had large investments in the Dominican Republic, including the Central Romana sugar mill, the Casa de Campo resort, free trade zone, and Consolidated Cigars among others.

Charles Bluhdorn, G+W's chairman, was involved in several big projects for the Dominican Republic, a country he loved very much. He was also involved in many future projects related to the country, specifically Altos de Chavón an artists' village located within the Casa de Campo complex.

Holding Miss Universe, with an estimated 200 million viewers, was the perfect vehicle for boosting the Dominican tourist sector.

Pageant host Bob Barker would later start a 3-season run of syndicated Price Is Right 2 months later, replacing Dennis James.

Results

Placements

Final ResultsContestant
Miss Universe 1977
1st runner-up
2nd runner-up
3rd runner-up
4th runner-up
Top 12

Special Awards

Award Contestant
Best National Costume
Miss Congeniality
Miss Photogenic

Order of announcements

Top 12

  1. Scotland
  2. Trinidad and Tobago
  3. USA
  4. Germany
  5. Venezuela
  6. Austria
  7. Spain
  8. Argentina
  9. Nicaragua
  10. Colombia
  11. Holland
  12. Dominican Republic

Top 5

  1. Germany
  2. Scotland
  3. Austria
  4. Trinidad and Tobago
  5. Colombia

Contestants

The Panel of Judges

External links

References