Leona Gage
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
Leona Gage, circa 1965
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| Born |
Mary Leona Gage April 8, 1939 Longview, Texas, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Other names | Leona Gage |
| Died | October 5, 2010 (aged 71) Sherman Oaks, California, U.S. |
| Hometown | Glen Burnie, Maryland, U.S. |
| No. of films | 3 |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
| Title(s) |
Miss Maryland USA 1957 Miss USA 1957 (Dethroned) |
| Major competition(s) |
Miss Maryland USA 1957 (Winner) Miss USA 1957 (Winner) (Dethroned) Miss Universe 1957 (Top 15) (Disqualified) |
Mary Leona Gage (April 8, 1939 – October 5, 2010) was an American actress, model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss USA 1957, the first from that state to capture the Miss USA crown. She was stripped of her title when it was revealed that she was 18, married, and the mother of two children.
She was a toddler when her parents moved from Longview, Texas to Wichita Falls, Texas. Her mother worked two jobs. Her father, paralyzed in an industrial accident, stayed home. She was 14 years old when she married Gene Ennis, an airman in the U.S. Air Force and had their first child. Ennis was 24 when he met 13-year-old Gage.
When Gage became pregnant and attempted to write to Ennis after he shipped out, he never responded. A drugstore employee who was getting married suggested she should get married with a volunteer groom. Gage agreed and they headed to Oklahoma for a double wedding. She married an airman named Edward Thacker. At her mother's insistence, the marriage to Thacker was annulled within the week.
When Ennis came back into her life in 1953, the still 14-year-old Mary married him in Wichita Falls; they moved to Manhattan Beach, Maryland (near Severna Park). She had their second child at age 16. The marriage quickly unraveled. A doctor suggested that she get a job to ease her pain and prevent a nervous breakdown. She was working in a dress shop in Glen Burnie, Maryland, when she met Barbara Mewshaw, a part-time model. Mewshaw introduced her to the Walters Modeling Agency and helped her enter the Miss Maryland USA pageant. Gage wanted to be in the pageant in the hopes of working as a model. Once entered in the contest she won.
She told the head of the modeling agency that she was married and could not go to the Miss USA pageant. One of the pageant officials told her to lie to the public. Pageant officials in Baltimore deny that they told her to lie.
Both women flew to Long Beach, California, for the Miss USA pageant.
In July 1957, Gage represented Maryland at the Miss USA pageant. As soon as she won the title, rumors began to appear. She lied to reporters when they questioned her, but a day later, she confessed the truth: she had been married twice, was a mother of two young children, and was actually 18, not 21. Her mother and mother in law confirmed to reporters that the rumors were true.
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